MVIP to bring stable power in Panay
ILOILO CITY: The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has announced that the full operation of the 450-megawatt (MW) Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) is expected to bring a more reliable source and stable transmission of power in the Panay grid during system disturbances.
“The MVIP will benefit the Panay sub-grid in the sense that it improves reliability in the event of a
reduced generation capacity from power plants in Visayas,” NGCP Public Relations Department lead specialist Reaghan Alcantara told The Manila Times on Wednesday.
The MVIP, which started construction in 2017, is a 184-circuit-kilometer, high-voltage direct current submarine transmission line connecting the power grids of Mindanao and Visayas through Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, and Santander, Cebu.
The submarine cable has a transfer capacity of 450 MW and is expandable to as much as 900 MW.
The project also includes converter stations in both regions and 526 circuit-kilometers of overhead lines aimed to facilitate the flow of electricity.
The MVIP marks the unification of the three major power grids — Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao — into one grid.
“It is a landmark project and a mega project in the energy sector due to the sheer scale of the areas covered,” Alcantara added.
With the extended power outage that hit Panay Island in early January, Alcantara said the “MVIP is a step towards boosting capacity in Panay and other parts of the grid to reduce prolonged outages in the future.”
Alcantara also said that the unified interconnection is set to give Panay distribution utilities and electric cooperatives access to power plants in Mindanao for possible cheaper sources of power which will lower the cost of electricity.
He added that the full commercial operation of the MVIP will promote energy resource sharing, as excess power generated in one region can now be transmitted to the other.
The full energization ceremony of the interconnection project was simultaneously held at Malacañang, NGCP’s Dumanjug Converter
Station in Cebu, and Lala Converter Station in Lanao del Norte on January 26.
An initial load of 22.5 MW was carried by the high-voltage submarine and overhead lines from Mindanao to the Visayas during its energization on April 30 last year.
Parts of the MVIP were already completed in 2022, including the Lala-Aurora 138-kilovolt (kV) Transmission Line, the 350-kV Submarine Cable, and Cable Terminal Stations in Santander, Cebu, and Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.