NGCP to complete Visayas interconnection project by 2019

MANILA, Philippines - The oversupply situation arising over development of solar power plants in Negros Island will be solved once the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) completes an interconnection project in the Visayas region in 2019.

The grid operator is currently working on the three-phased Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) Interconnection Project which will solve the Negros oversupply for solar plants, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza-Perez said.

She said the project would loop the Visayas grid by alternative lines for transmission of electricity to the end point. 

 “Looping projects are critical for us. All of those three will contribute to the final solution,” she said.

The project is composed of CNP Phase 1 or the Negros-Panay submarine cable project and transmission line from Magalona to Bacolod, CNP Phase 2 or the Magdugo-Cebu transmission line, and CNP Phase 3 or Cebu-Negros submarine cable and transmission line.

Of the three, CNP Phase 1 has already secured a provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), of which the submarine cable will be finished by October this year while the transmission line is targeted for completion in September 2017, Alabanza-Perez said.

NGCP has yet to receive regulatory approval for CNP Phase 2 targeted to be finished by December 2018 while application for CNP Phase 3, which is eyed for completion in December 2019, has yet to be filed.

The grid operator could not keep up with the fast-paced solar developments in building additional transmission lines, which take years coinciding with the two- to three-year development of traditional power plants, such as coal, causing constraints on existing transmission facilities.

 “Our TDP (Transmission Development Plan) is a 10-year plan updated annually but it was only last year these plants started (coming in),” Alabanza-Perez said.

The solar developments in Negros Island has created concerns on overcapacity and intermittency, which could strain the Visayas grid and cause major power outages especially when the current Negros submarine cable can only transmit 90 megawatts (MW) to other islands in the grid.

Latest NGCP data showed Negros has a total supply of 490 MW but demand is only at 309 MW, showing an excess of 181 MW.

This could be addressed once the Negros-Panay submarine cable project is energized in October, which can double the transmitted capacity from 90 MW to 180 MW, NGCP said.

To mitigate intermittency of solar projects, NGCP is undertaking automatic reduction of generation output from solar plants to prevent submarine cable overloading.

Moving forward, the grid operator is negotiating with power generators for ancillary services procurement agreement, particularly with Green Core-Palimpinon Geothermal project, Alabanza-Perez said.

 “This is the solution to intermittence. We are negotiating with Green Core,” she said.