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Business

NGCP seeks ERC okay for switchyard rehab

Iris Gonzales - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines - The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the country’s power  transmission service provider, is seeking the approval of the Energy  Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the P721-million repair and upgrade of its  switchyard in Iligan City.   

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said there is a need to fast track  the rehabilitation of the 59-year old switchyard.   

She said an outage from the switchyard would significantly affect  the power situation in Mindanao.   

“It is high time for NGCP to rehabilitate the Agus 6 switchyard to  improve its condition and ensure its reliable operations. An outage  from the switchyard would be very critical to the stability of the  power supply in Mindanao, which is badly needed,” Alabanza said.   

The switchyard is located in the  vicinity of the Agus 6 Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP), owned and  operated by the government through the National Power Corp. (Napocor).   

According to NGCP’s rehabilitation plan,  the project would have three components.

These are the construction of a new 69-kilovolt (kV) facility,  rehabilitation of the existing 138-kV facility and construction of a  new control room building.   

Rehabilitation of the Agus 6 switchyard is critical to Mindanao’s  power situation because of large portion of Mindanao’s power comes  from the plant.    “It also provides contingency reserve to the grid, which makes the  switchyard’s upgrading crucial,” Alabanza said.   

At present, the Agus 6 switchyard serves electric cooperatives in  Mindanao, the Lanao del Norte Electric Cooperative (LANECO) and Iligan  Light Power, Inc. (ILPI), which distribute electricity in Lanao del  Norte.       

Despite regular maintenance, most of the devices in the switchyard are  already old, defective, and prone to frequent breakdowns, the NGCP  official also said.

Aside from being old and worn-out, the equipment installed in the  switchyard is already obsolete in the market, making replacement and  repairs difficult for NGCP.                                  

 

 

 

AGUS

ALABANZA

CYNTHIA ALABANZA

HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT

ILIGAN CITY

LANAO

MINDANAO

POWER

SWITCHYARD

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