Transco wants P17.7-B link-up project hastened

The National Transmission Corp. (Transco) will push for the acceleration of the $354-million or P17.7-billion Leyte-Mindanao interconnection project (LMIP).

Transco vice president for project management group Dominador Geonzon told reporters that under the Transmission Development Plan (TDP), target completion of the LMIP has been moved to 2011 after the government decided to defer the implementation of the project last year.

"The corporate planning division (CPD) of Transco is conducting a study to look into the possibility of accelerating the implementation of the LMIP," Geonzon said. The study will determine the economic and financial viability of the project.

The study, Geonzon said, is expected to be completed by the middle of the year. "The president of Transco (Alan Ortiz) wants the result to be finalized on or before June this year," he said.

He said the CPD will try to determine a new timetable for the project. "We don’t know yet when will be the best time to implement the LMIP," he added.

Geonzon explained that the move to "review the project for possible acceleration" is consistent with the objective of Republic Act 9136 or Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

"The EPIRA requires that there should be competition in the market. We can not achieve utmost competition in the market if we do not have complete interconnection," he said.

Geonzon said they have to carefully study the proposal for acceleration of the project since this will entail a huge investment requirement.

The LMIP was supposed to be included in the list of projects that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will fund this year. But the multilateral financial institution reportedly cancelled the project from its list after the government revealed its intention to defer it.

Since the privatization of Transco is already in the offing, the government opted to defer the project to allow the winning concessionaire to carry out the project.

"It was decided last year that because of the magnitude of the amount needed for the project, it is better for it to be implemented by the winning concessionaire," he said.

He said the review of the new timetable for the LMIP is being supported by the House committee on energy chairman Rep. Cirilo Alipio Badelles.

"Congressman Badelles of the Joint congressional power commission believes the project is necessary to provide better competition in the power industry," he said.

The LMIP was supposed to be the final phase in the unification of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids. It will enable the deferment of additional baseload plants in the region and lower the system production cost as a result of the overall pooling of resources.

The interconnection project is designed for 250 kilovolt high-voltage density cable bipolar link with a total transfer capacity of 500 MW.

The project includes 455 kilometers of overhead line and 23 km submarine cable with a maximum depth of around 1,000 meters below sea level. It emanates from the existing Ormoc converter station in Leyte and terminates at Kirahon converter station in Northcentral Mindanao via Southern Leyte and Northeastern Mindanao.