New Pagbilao substation boosts capacity in Quezon

MANILA, Philippines — With large capacity generation being built to address the rising demand for power, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is also gearing up to support the entry of these power generation units to the grid.  

The Pagbilao 500-kiloVolt (kV) Substation Project is one of NGCP’s efforts to address transmission issues in Quezon province and accommodate incoming power generation, which include the 420-megawatt (MW) Pagbilao Coal-Fired Power Plant Expansion, 500-MW San Buenaventura Power Coal-Fired Power Plant, and 600-MW Energy World Corp. Combined-Cycle Power Plant, among others.  

“With over 1500 MW of power coming into the grid once these plants are online, we need a new gateway of power in the Quezon province which can fully accommodate all these. The Pagbilao 500kV Substation will help ease voltage and load issues of nearby substations like Tayabas, and further enhance transmission of power not only in Quezon province but in the entire Luzon grid as well,” NGCP said.

 Along with the construction of the new substation, the project will also involve the expansion of the existing Tayabas 500kV Substation. This expansion will address the problem of overloading of the Tayabas 500/230kV transformers and fault level issues.   

NGCP just completed a series of public consultations with the local government of Pagbilao and the communities to be affected by the project. These talks were initiated by NGCP to present the project, gain support from the communities, and to address any issues the public may have, especially in terms of right-of-way acquisition and the possible effect of the project to the peoples’ livelihood. Should there be no further delays, the project is set to commence construction by the last quarter of the year.  

The country’s transmission network operator appeals for the support of the public. “We hope that with the cooperation of the LGU, other related government agencies, and host communities, we will be able to fast-track the project’s implementation and enable a stronger power transmission backbone in Southern Luzon,” the company stated.  

The project, with an ERC-approved cost of P4.016 billion, is targeted for completion by March 2020. 

NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders Henry Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.