Transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said it is lining up several priority projects that will reinforce the country’s electricity network and backbone to support the distribution of bigger electricity loads.

The company emphasized that its investments’ pipeline had been “meticulously planned by our engineers and updated year after year with careful consideration for the needs of every single area in the country.”

Within this year, the transmission firm indicated that the priority target is to complete several projects that will  free up stranded capacities due to years of congestion in some parts of the power system.

The critical projects that the firm has been advancing to urgent commercial operations include the Hermosa-San Jose 500kV (kilovolt) transmission line project, Cebu-Negros-Panay stage 3 backbone project, Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay transmission line project, and the Cebu-Bohol interconnection project.

A landmark project due for completion is the P52 billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP). Once it reaches commercial operation in August this year, MVIP will concretize the country’s vision of having a nationally-connected power grid.

In addition, the transmission link up will enable the export of surplus power supply from Mindanao to the Visayas and  to the energy-starved Luzon grid.

Following that, the transmission company specified that it will already “commence new projects approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) such as the Batangas-Mindoro interconnection.”

These forward projects are fleshed out in the Transmission Development Plan (TDP) that had been submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) for integration into the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP).

The transmission firm noted that these projects had been cast to “improve transmission backbones and alternative transmission corridors, and to develop resiliency policies for power transmission facilities.”

One of the biggest challenges that will confront the system operator in the years ahead will be the massive integration of variable renewable energy (VRE) capacities – and how their connection into the system could be balanced prudently to avoid grid collapse.

Power investors have repeatedly sounded off that they are agonizing over stretched timeframes of securing system impact study (SIS) for the grid connection of their projects – and this is a sphere where they would want united and immediate action to be pursued; because this will gauge the seriousness as to how the government-designed ‘energy transition pathway’ will be enforced.

“We continue to be hopeful that improvements in all 3 sectors of the power delivery system are in sync with each other, so that one sector is not made to be the sole or principal solution to challenges in the other sectors,” NGCP asserted.

Toward the overall operation of the power system, it was stated that “to make it robust, resilient and responsive to the needs of a fast growing economy, the direction and coordination must be clear, equally implemented, and objectively pursued.”

And on the recent controversies plaguing NGCP, the holding company of its major Filipino shareholders Synergy Grid & Development Phils Inc. relayed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that the transmission firm “relies on its over-all good performance and service track record to defend against allegations of violations.”

It cited that “based on the ERC’s findings on performance metrics, transmission services have significantly improved,” adding that “NGCP has doubled substation capacity and constructed substantial transmission lines all over the country including inter-island connection projects.”