NGCP’s P51.6B project on schedule

The country's biggest project in the history of the power industry is on track and its target date of completion is December 2020.

The P51.6 billion Mindanao Visayas Interconnection Project will connect from Dumanjug in Cebu down to Zamboanga in Mindanao.

NGCP-Visayas System Planning Division Michael Baylosis said that MVIP has a 355-kilometer bipolar (meaning two poles) submarine cable and has a capacity of 900 megawatts.

However, only 450megawatts will be transmitted first once it will be operational.

The other pole will only be used in case of additional power supply in the future.

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said that after the completion of the MVIP, this will eventually connect the three main grids of the Philippines, the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.

Visayas and Luzon are currently interconnected via the High Voltage Direct Current.

The completion of MVIP will likewise increase transmission rate by 3 centavos per kilowatt hour, which is very minimal.

"The scenario of brownouts will surely lessen but we cannot say such scenario will never happen because the electricity industry has various components and the transmission side is only part of it," said Alabanza in a press conference yesterday after the presentation of the status of the Cebu grids ongoing projects.

NGCP is a privatelyowned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country's power grid.

The MVIP is in support of the government's priority program on island interconnections, as the company brings powersharing in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

NGCP is seeking the support of the public and its stakeholders, especially communities that will be traversed by the project.

NGCP also underscores the magnitude and potential impact of this undertaking, not only to Mindanao, but to the country's power stability and making sure that their current power transmission lines and other facilities are not compromised.

NGCP also emphasized that they need the full support of the government like the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the different local government units to ensure its timely and quality implementation.

NGCP also announced four ongoing projects in Cebu that will help strengthen the MVIP.

These four projects are the Cebu-Panay Grid 230-kilovolt Stage 3, CebuLapu-Lapu 230-kilovolt project, Naga Upgrading Project and the New Naga (Colon) Substation Project.