NGCP seeks ERC okay for transmission project

MANILA, Philippines - National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the operator of the country’s power transmission highway, has sought the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the implementation of the first phase of its Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) transmission project.

The first phase of the 230-kilovolt transmission line project would entail necessary facility expansion and line upgrades which, in turn, would ensure overall reliability of the Visayas grid.

Implementation of the first stage of the project involves three major components:  the installation of additional submarine cables in the Negros-Panay submarine cable interconnection; the construction of overhead transmission lines; and the expansion of NGCP’s Barotac Viejo Substation, E.B Magalona Cable Terminal Station (CTS) and Bacolod Substation.

The NGCP is embarking on the CNP project to address potential overloading of the Negros-Panay and Bacolod-Magalona transmission lines when additional generation plants are built in Panay Island in 2016.

Based on NGCP’s 2011 Transmission Development Plan (TDP), there will be 10 new generating plants in Panay Island by 2016, with a total capacity of 491 megawatts (MW).

 â€œThis increase in capacity will cause significant excess in generated power in the island, hence the need for new transmission lines to export the excess power to other islands in the Visayas,” NGCP spokesperson and head of corporate communications Cynthia Perez-Alabanza said.

The transmission line project will also extend the existing 230-kV transmission corridor from Compostela Substation in Cebu towards Panay through a combination of submarine cables and overhead transmission lines which will pass through Negros Island, NGCP said.

Alabanza said once completed, the project would add 238 circuit kilometers (ckm) of transmission lines to NGCP’s facilities.