Transco completes Boracay submarine cable project

State-owned National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) has completed the laying of the submarine cable for the 69-kilovolt Panay-Boracay interconnection project, a joint project of TransCo and the Aklan Electric Cooperative (AKELCO).

TransCo president Dr. Alan T. Ortiz said this project is critical to Boracay island, the country’s premier tourist destination.

Ortiz said a total of 1.6 kilometers of submarine cable had been laid connecting TransCo’s Caticlan cable terminal station (CTS) and another CTS in Manok-Manok, Boracay last Tuesday, Feb. 21.

"With more and more tourist facilities rising in our country’s premiere tourist destination, Boracay’s power demand will rise more steeply in the coming years. This is why we are doing all we can to complete critical projects like this to meet the growing demand of businesses in the area," Ortiz said.

Aside from submarine cable works, TransCo is also fast-tracking the construction of the cable terminal stations in Caticlan and Boracay, which are targeted for completion at the end-March or early April.

As provided in a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed with AKELCO, TransCo will also supply materials and equipment for two new substations and the CTS.

AKELCO for its part will erect, install, and energize a one-kilometer overhead distribution line connecting its Caticlan substation to TransCo’s Caticlan CTS.

Under the MOA, AKELCO will also build another substation in Boracay adjacent to TransCo’s Boracay CTS.

The P149-million Panay-Boracay Interconnection project is the first phase of TransCo’s Small Island Submarine Interconnection Development (SISID) program which aims to establish a bi-directional electricity highway at the nation’s western corridor and eventually complete the Luzon-Visayas Transmission Loop.

The multi-phase transmission program will start with the Panay-Boracay, then the Luzon-Mindoro. This will be followed by the Mindoro-Semirara Island-Panay and finally, the Boracay-Tablas-Romblon transmission links.

Aside from the SISID program, Ortiz said TransCo is also relentlessly working to complete other crucial transmission projects that will secure power supply in the Visayas region.

He said construction works for the submarine cable component of the Cebu-Negros interconnection uprating project (CNIUP), which will increase the carrying capacity of the existing submarine cable from 100MW to 200 MW has already started this month and is expected to be completed by June next year.

Ground works for the project’s transmission line and substation components meanwhile are set to commence this April and will be completed by November 2007.

Ortiz said the Negros-Panay interconnection uprating project, which will double the capacity of the existing line to 200 MW is also set to be awarded in June of this year. The project is targeted for completion by 1st quarter of 2008.

Once energized, these power projects will increase reliability and stability of the Leyte-Cebu-Negros-Panay grid and also optimize the use of indigenous power resources from the geothermal fields of Leyte.