Mindanao-Borneo power interconnection being eyed

DAVAO CITY – A Mindanao-Borneo power interconnection is being pushed that will allow the Philippines to participate in the cross-border electricity market under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Power Grid that envisions all countries in the region under a single power grid by 2030, Mindanao Development Authoron ity (MinDA) Executive Deputy Director Romeo Montenegro said.

Montenegro said the project might come after the completion of the P51.6billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project of the National Grid Power Corporation (NGCP) by early 2021 that will connect the country to a single national power grid.

The interconnection of Mindanao via Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte with Visayas, via Cebu and through submarine cable, would provide “a signal for investors to look at the Borneo-Mindanao interconnection,” he said.

“That is also the direction for BorneoMindanao interconnection via Sabah, we shall be connected by submarine cable in the near future, so that we have an opportunity to probably source out cheaper electricity from across border,” he added.

Citing a previous study conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Montenegro said Mindanao was too small a market to be interconnected with Borneo, Malaysia but a single national grid makes the Philippines more viable for electricity market.

“At that time, it hasn’t seen the viability yet because of Mindanao being too small a market to warrant the financial viability of connecting Borneo and Mindanao. Once Mindanao is connected to Visayas and Luzon, that expands the market, that renders the financial viability of such interconnection,” he said.

He said some proponents are pushing ADB to update their study for this ambitious project, which is part of the interconnectivity goal of the ASEAN Power Grid to transition member economies to “a power market-operated regime.”