Transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is seeking approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission for its P9.93 billion capital expenditures (capex) for the upgrading and expansion of facilities in North Luzon. The company said that the facility reinforcements covers the installation of new transformers in several substations as part of the second stage of its North Luzon Substation Upgrading Project. “The overall substation upgrading project has already been filed with the ERC with a total project cost of P9.93 billion,” the transmission firm has reiterated. The upgrading of these substations is being done to cater the load growth and provide N-1 contingency to substations in NGCP’s North Luzon region. Without the project, NGCP said  "power interruptions may be experienced by customers in the event of failure of existing transformers and power circuit breakers.” N-1 contingency refers to having a redundancy in the power system that could isolate the greater part of the grid in case one part of the system would suffer loss or outage. NGCP conveyed that in February, it already energized the 100 megavolt-Ampere (MVA) transformer 1 in Tuguegarao substation in Cagayan, as well as the 100MVA transformer 1 in the San Esteban Substation in Ilocos Sur. Last month, the company reported that another 100MV transformer also reached completion and commercial operation in the Laoag substation in Ilocos Norte. Other areas also to be covered will include Isabela, La Union, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac and Zambales for the overall improvements in the North Luzon segment of the country’s electricity system. Reinforcement of the power system are critical not just to spare consumers from power outages; but also to support the revolutionizing power generation buildup in the country that will eventually lean on renewable energy installations. As it is, the power transmission system of the country is still confronted with many challenges, primarily in the integration of variable RE facilities, hence, that is an area that NGCP is being prodded to make headway when it comes to implementation of projects. The all-inclusive energy planning of the country include a Transmission Development Plan (TDP) that shall be crafted by NGCP then will subsequently be incorporated into the Philippine Energy Plan – and that shall support key developments being pursued in the transformation of the country’s energy mix.