MANILA, Philippines – The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has cleared the construction of a critical substation which would connect incoming power plants in Quezon province with a total capacity of 2,720 megawatts (MW) to the Luzon grid.
The power regulator approved the petition of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to construct the Pagbilao EHV Substation aimed to address the overloading of the Tayabas 500/230 kv transformers and the fault level issue at Tayabas 230 kv Substation.
Estimated to cost P3.6 billion, the facility will connect four incoming new capacities to the Luzon grid, namely the 420-MW Pagbilao Coal-Fired Power Plant (CFPP) expansion, the 500-MW San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL), the 3x200-MW Energy World Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Power Plant and the 1,200-MW Atimonan Coal-Fired Power Plant.
ERC chairman and CEO Jose Vicente Salazar said the Pagbilao EHV Substation will be beneficial in terms of ensuring the quality, reliability and integrity of the Luzon Grid.
“The approval of the NGCP’s Pagbilao EHV Substation will enable it to adequately serve the needs and demands of generation companies, distribution utilities and suppliers requiring transmission service and ancillary services through the transmission system,” he said.
The ERC said the project shall be subject to optimization based on its actual need and/or implementation under the performance based rate (PBR) system to determine the extent of the value that will be included in the rate base of NGCP.
The power regulator also directed NGCP to conduct competitive bidding for the purchase of major materials in the implementation of the proposed projects, as well as to pay the corresponding permit fee required.
Currently, Quezon hosts two of the major power plants in the Luzon grid – the 735-MW Pagbilao and 460-MW Quezon Power coal-fired power plants, which are connected to the Tayabas 2,400-MVA 230/500 Substation.
The Tayabas Substation is linked to the 500 kv backbone stretches to Dasmariñas Substation in Cavite which serves as a drawdown substation for the loads in the south of Metro Manila.