NGCP to complete transmission line to Mindanao by 2020

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is confident it will complete the major transmission line connecting Mindanao to the rest of the power grid by 2020.

The grid operator broke ground last month on cable terminal stations in the municipality of Santander, Cebu, and Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP).

NGCP said the project is a testament to its commitment to complete the MVIP and realize a one Philippine grid in 2020.

“We are confident that the NGCP team will exhibit the commitment and skills needed to push the project and realize the interconnected transmission network within the committed timeframe,” NGCP said in a statement.

The cable terminal stations serve as the landing points of the two 92-kilometer submarine cables which will carry around 450-megawatts (MW) of power from the Visayas and Mindanao, and vice versa.

The MVIP, provisionally approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in 2017, is considered the biggest power infrastructure project in the country’s history.

Apart from the submarine cables and cable terminal stations, the P52-billion project also entails the installation of 526 circuit-kilometers of overhead transmission lines, high-voltage direct current converter stations, and various upgrades to substations in both regions.

Last May, the Department of Energy (DOE) certified the MVIP as an energy project of national significance in order to streamline and expedite the needed documents for the construction and completion of the project.

NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders Henry Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.