Philippines: ERC OKs P52-billion VisMin grid interconnection project

Philippines: ERC OKs P52-billion VisMin grid interconnection project

Power-resource sharing between the country's major islands will soon become
a reality, following the regulators' approval of the National Grid Corp. of
the Philippines (NGCP) P52-billion grid interconnection project proposal.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Wednesday said it issued a
provisional authority to the NGCP to proceed with its Visayas-Mindanao
Interconnection Project with certain conditions.

For one, the proposed project shall be subject to optimization based on its
actual use and/or implementation during the reset process for the next
regulatory period; the NGCP is required to conduct competitive bidding for
the purchase of major materials in the implementation of the project and
NGCP's payment of the permit fee.

The project involves the interconnection of the Visayas and Mindanao via
Cebu and Zamboanga. The converter stations in the Visayas and Mindanao will
be in Sibonga, Cebu, and Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, respectively. The
project is estimated to be completed in 46 months.

"The provisional approval granted to NGCP to implement the Visayas-Mindanao
Interconnection Project will enable power-supply importations among the
Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao grids. For instance, the deficiency of
supply in Visayas may be supplied by importing power from Luzon or Mindanao.
Hence, this Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection will help address the
insufficient power supply and will also help optimize the available power
supply in the Philippine grid," ERC Officer in Charge Alfredo J. Non said.

A news statement issued by the NGCP said it is "eager to begin the project
as we intend to make good on our commitment to president Duterte finish this
project by 2020."

"The interconnection will not only be a major milestone for NGCP, as it
finally implements a project that has remained on the government's drawing
board for 3 decades, but it will go a long way into power stability, as it
will allow, when completed, power sharing amongst all 3 grids," the
statement added.

The Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project is in support of the
government's vision to interconnect the major grids into a single national
grid, which is expected to help improve the overall power-supply security in
the country, as sharing of reserves will already become possible. The
project also aims to reinforce the operation of the electricity market by
maximizing the use of available energy resources and additional generation
capacities in the Visayas and Mindanao, which include renewable-energy
resources.

In an NGCP-commissioned hydrographic survey conducted from September to
November 2016, a viable route along the country's western seaboard,
"beginning in Cebu and terminating in Dipolog", was determined as viable for
the implementation of the plans of interconnecting the Visayas and Mindanao
grids.

The project is envisioned to be finished by 2020, assuming all regulatory
approvals are secured on time.

The Luzon and Visayas grids have long been connected via NGCP's Naga-Ormoc
High Voltage Direct Current line.

"We need the support of the government, the Energy Regulatory Commission,
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the different local
government units the project will traverse, among others, to push this
forward. With their full support, we are confident that we will be able to
complete this project on time," NGCP earlier said.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/erc-oks-p52-billion-vismin-grid-interconnec
tion-project/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com