We have enough lines to transmit Ilijan power — Napocor

The National Power Corp. (Napocor), the country’s power generation giant, gave its assurance yesterday that there would be enough transmission lines to connect the Ilijan power plant to the Luzon grid.

Napocor chief operating officer and Transeco president Asisclo T. Gonzaga said they have completed work on the transmission line to Ilijan power plant was completed as early as last Sept. 19.

Gonzaga was reacting to reports that the transmission line connecting the Ilijan power plant in Batangas to the Luzon grid is not yet finished.

"Napocor has in fact declared its readiness to receive all electricity that could be generated by the Ilijan plant as early as Sept. 19, 2001," Gonzaga said.

According to Gonzaga, Napocor transmission lines, including the 500-kilovolt (kV) Ilijan-Tayabas line, are capable of transporting the 600 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the Ilijan plant.

"Our network of transmission lines for the Ilijan plant has passed all tests we have conducted including debugging and synchronization to the Luzon grid. We have been 100 percent ready since Sept. 19," Gonzaga said.

A back-up line, the 500-kV Ilijan-Dasmariñas transmission line which connects the Ilijan power plant to Napocor’s Dasmarinas substation in Cavite is also nearly complete.

The Transco official said he is looking forward to the operation of the natural gas plant since this will further lessen the country’s dependence on oil-based fuel and will provide the country with an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion revenues over the next 20 years. – Donnabelle Gatdula