Kanematsu bags submarine cable component of Visayas power project

Japanese firm Kanematsu Corp. has bagged the $26-million contract to supply the submarine cable component of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) uprating project, a top National Transmission Corp. (Transco) official said.

Transco president Alan T. Ortiz said they expect to approve in their next board meeting the overhead cable component of the project.

He said with these developments, they hope to complete the project by the end of 2006 or early 2007.

The CNP project aims to double the load of the transmission lines from 100 megawatts (MW) to 200 MW among the three Visayas islands and optimize the use of indigenous power from the geothermal power plants in Leyte.

Transco has committed to fasttrack the implementation of the $41.5-million Negros-Panay uprating and the $40- million Cebu-Negros interconnection projects.

The Cebu-Negros component of the CNP project entails the installation of a 109-kilometer, 138 kilovolt overhead transmission line and a 17.8-kilometer submarine cable to connect Transco’s Santander substation in Cebu and Amlan substation in Negros Oriental to the CNP grid.

The CNP’s project Negros-Panay component would likewise double the transfer capacity, from 100 MW to 200 MW, of the 18.8-kilometer submarine cable system, the first in Asia.

"Once these projects are completed by early 2006, the Visayas region can expect more than adequate supply of power," Ortiz said.

The project will also expand and modernize Transco’s telecommunication system with the inclusion of fiber optic cables the submarine cables.

It also complements Transco’s Leyte-Cebu interconnection uprating project which has likewise been awarded to the Japanese consortium of Kanematsu and J-Power Systems.