The P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) of transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will add an initial 300-megawatt to energy-starved Luzon grid starting June this year, according to the Department of Energy.
That will then help save Luzon grid from predicaments of rotational blackouts especially when demand would surge as the Philippine economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Energy Assistant Secretary Redentor E. Delola said the interconnected power grids will be partially energized next month, thus, that will already enable the initial export of generated electricity from Mindanao to the linked-up power systems of Luzon and Visayas.
In the calculation of the energy department, initial 45 megawatts (MW) can already be shared from Mindanao by March. And by mid-year, the capacity that can be fed into the linked-up transmission grids could already hover at 300MW.
Delola reiterated that during a meeting held between DOE and NGCP, the transmission firm reported that by June 2022, “MVIP will allow exchange of power up to 300 MW based on the current power outlook.” The completion and full commercial operation of the MVIP will be December this year.
The energy official added that based on NGCP’s account, “the target partial energization of MVIP is on March 2022, meaning the high voltage, direct current (HVDC) portion and other project components will be completed for Visayas and Mindanao, except the 230kV (kilovolt) AC (alternating current) line in the Visayas side,” Delola said.
With that scale of completion in the MVIP, he explained that “the scheme in Visayas will bus-in along Colon-Samboan line - meaning if Mindanao will export power to Visayas, it will be injected to the 138 kV backbone in Cebu towards Colon. In this scheme, there's a limitation of 45MW in the power export from Mindanao to Visayas.”
The full carrying capacity of the MVIP had been calculated at 400MW, hence, that will be the magnitude of capacity that can be transported to augment power supply in Luzon if it teeters into breaking point. Essentially, this will help ease supply worries in the country’s major power grid while capacity buildup suffers from shortfall in the next 2-3 years.
Mindanao grid is on a surplus capacity mode, therefore, it would be able to share that extra generation chiefly to Luzon because it is the most vulnerable power system to supply thinning -- or worse, protracted power interruptions.
The completion of that grid interconnection venture will likewise concretize the country’s long-time dream of having a single national grid that will then warrant the sharing of generated electricity or reserve capacity between and across grids.
The MVIP can also aid in ramping up renewable energy developments in Mindanao, because capacity surplus can be wheeled for the use of consumers in Luzon and Visayas grids.
Another industry development tied to the MVIP undertaking is the targeted commercial operation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in Mindanao, which is similarly a stretch-decade endeavor of the relevant stakeholders in the deregulated power sector.