NGCP commits more power to Negros, Panay islands

CEBU, Philippines – “Stronger transmission for a stronger nation,” was the commitment of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines when it reported that Negros and Panay islands will have excess power capacity if all its generation plant projects for 2016 will push through.

The NGCP delivered the report during the Power 2 seminar and presentation of its projects in Dumaguete City last week.

Engineer Sozimo Briones, head of NGCP’s Negros Operations and Maintenance, said that if all the proposed plant projects will push through, the NGCP can expect a power supply of about 785 megaWatts.

As such, Panay island, which is expecting a rise in demand by 335 mWs, will have an excess power supply of around 450mWs by next year.

Panay is now mostly served by coal plants, diesel and wind plants, while Negros island which is served by approximately three-fourths of power from solar plants, most of which are in the northern Negros area such as Bacolod, Cadiz, San Carlos, Victoria, and Silay cities and Manapla town.

Briones added that 20 percent is supplied by geothermal power from Negros Oriental and the rest from biomass power plants.

On the other hand, the forecast power supply for the Negros Island Region would reach a total of 1,028.2 mWs, based on the NGCP’s application from generator proponents. Taking this against the projected increase in demand of about 288 mWs, there will be an excess of around 740 mWs, said NGCP.

As a result, Panay island and the Negros Island Region would have a combined power generation of around 1,814 mWs, as against the demand of only 623 mWs, or an excess of 1,011 mWs.

Briones said that, in the Visayas peninsula, Cebu is the center for the big demand for power, which means that any excess power from Panay and Negros would gravitate toward the load center in Cebu.

However, the existing facilities can only allow the transmission of a maximum of 180 megawatts to Cebu through a submarine cable. Thus, based on the demand, the supply being generated and the capacity of the plants that NGCP is expecting would be about 842 mWs during peak hours, without overloading the submarine cable.

The bigger challenge now for NGCP would be to put up more power projects for 2016, said Briones. The biggest project in the Visayas is the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230-kilovolt backbone line that will be considered an expressway or highway for excess power to be transported from Negros and Panay to Cebu, he said.

The concept would be to put up a higher capacity lines to accommodate bigger demands would be to let power pass through the 230-KV backbone line, instead of the 69-KV or 138-KV lines, said the NGCP official.

Briones further said the Stage One of the proposed project (Negros-Panay interconnection) was targeted to be online by April next year, while Stage Two is expected to be online by 2017.

Stage Three of the proposed project would involve the putting up of an overhead line from Bacolod City to San Carlos City, and then to Toledo City in Cebu, he said.

If plans do not miscarry, all excess powers can be transmitted from any of the three islands in Cebu, Negros, and Panay. In case of problems, the other islands can always support each other due to the interconnection, Briones added. (FREEMAN)