NGCP allots P1B for Panay proj

MANILA, Philippines - The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the country’s power transmission highway operator, has set aside P1.022 billion for a critical backbone in Panay, targeted for commissioning within the year.

The Southern Panay Backbone Transmission Project, which started in October 2010, is part of the wider Panay power transmission backbone that seeks to accommodate additional generation capacity in the island.

NGCP said the project, as approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), has two major components – transmission line and substation.

The transmission component includes the construction of 97-circuit kilometer (ckm) of 138-kilovolt (kV) line, which will extend from the Sta. Barbara Substation in Iloilo to a new substation in San Jose, Antique and a 69-kV line, which will run from the San Jose substation to San Jose Sibalom station.

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza said the construction of the new lines could address potential overloading of the existing Sta. Barbara-Sibalom 69-kV line.

 The substation component of the project, meanwhile, involves the construction of a new facility, the San Jose substation wherein the agency would put in place a 50-megavolt ampere transformer, NGCP said.

 Alabanza said as of March 15, the transmission line and substation components of the project are already 97 percent and 73 percent complete, respectively.

“We see this project, together with the Northern Panay Backbone Project, and other line improvements as proactive solutions to future load growth and possible low-voltage problem in the island,” Alabanza said. She added that Panay, like the other islands in the Visayas, is developing and NGCP has to catchup with these growths to sustain the quality and reliability of power delivery service.