TransCo may bid for project linking Visayas, Mindanao grids

NATIONAL Transmission Corp. (TransCo) is planning to bid for the project that will connect the Visayas and Mindanao power grids if it is not given the authority to supervise the P51.7-billion proposal of privately owned National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“We are asking ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) to strongly consider that TransCo will be the one supervising the project,” TransCo President and Chief Executive Officer Melvin A. Matibag told reporters.

“If that will not happen I have another idea,” Mr. Matibag said. “We will bid to participate in the project.”

He said he was looking at entering into a joint venture with a private company with the technical capacity.

“They have to bid it out, and we will participate,” he said. “The bottom line is we want to protect the interest of the government and [so that] the public will not suffer from the cost.”

He previously said he was looking at the government’s share in the earnings of the Malampaya gas find to fund the project. The move would require congressional approval, for which he said the Department of Energy would seek Malacañang’s endorsement.

NGCP has not replied to a request for comment on the proposal floated by TransCo, which was created by law just before the privatization of the country’s energy assets.

TransCo owns the country’s transmission facilities, although NGCP has a 25-year congressional franchise to operate, maintain and expand the power grid, an interconnected system of power lines and substations that transmits high-voltage electricity to consumers. NGCP started operating as a power transmission service provider in 2009.

Mr. Matibag said TransCo had filed a “manifestation” seeking a review of how NGCP arrived at the route of the project that would require the construction of a P15-billion power conversion plant.

“From the legal point of view, when you file a manifestation you are calling the attention of the regulatory agency to look into the following items,” he said, referring to his filing at ERC.

“I’m asking for the comparison of the eastern side and the western side because their (NGCP’s) excuse for putting that in the western side [is] there are marine activities,” he said.

On Sept. 9, 2017, ERC announced that it had granted provisional authority to NGCP to implement the project, which will enable power supply importation among the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids. ERC approval is required as the project’s cost is passed on to consumers.

The project covers the linking of the power grids via Cebu in the Visayas and Dipolog City in Mindanao. The converter stations in Visayas and Mindanao will be located in Sibonga, Cebu and Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, respectively.

Separately, NGCP said it is expecting to complete its reinforcement of the Mindanao transmission backbone within the first quarter of 2019, months ahead of its target June 2019 completion.

In a statement, it said the Mindanao 230-kiloVolt ( kV) transmission backbone project would address the anticipated addition of bulk power generation in the area by strengthening the existing capacity of the Matanao-TorilBunawan and the Balo-i-Maramag-Bunawan transmission lines from 138 kV to 230 kV.

“Various key substations will also be upgraded in order to accommodate the line and the additional power expected to flow through. The transmission backbone, once in place, will accommodate renewable and conventional power plants in the northern and southern part of Mindanao, which will in turn ensure stable and continuous power from Lanao del Norte, passing through Agusan del Sur, all the way to Davao del Sur,” it said on Monday. —