THE P52-billion power interconnection project connects the Mindanao and Visayas grids, finally linking together all three major Philippine islands to create one grid and ensure the sharing of energy sources across the network.
National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in an earlier report said the vital components of the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project “are now complete and ready for energization.”
The Mindanao grid will be linked to the Visayas grid via an HVDC system, which has a 450-megawatt initial capacity.
In a statement, the privately owned power transmission company said it is done with the construction of the cable terminal stations in Santander, Cebu, and Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, as well as the installation of two 92-kilometer 350-kilovolt (kV) high voltage direct current (HVDC) power cables and two 92-kilometer fiber optic cables.
“Expects power rates in Mindanao to go down soon,” said Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez Monday.
Rodriguez said that with the reported completion of the project by next month of the transmission links between the two grids by the NGCP.
Rodriguez thanked NGCP Chairman Henry ‘Big Boy’ Sy, Jr. and President Anthony Almeda for this completion.
“We have high power rates on our island,” Rodriguez said, quoting recent complaints from Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and organized electricity end-users grouped under the Mindanao Coalition of Power Consumers (MCPC).
He said the completion of the transmission link between Mindanao and Visayas and the eventual interconnection among the country’s three islands, including Luzon, “should result in lower power rates for us in the south.”
He said a great part of the power supply in Visayas is generated from geothermal plants, while Luzon relies largely on cheaper natural gas from the Malampaya natural gas project in Palawan.
In August last year, Zubiri delivered a privileged speech in which he called for the review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which he said had brought higher electricity costs throughout the country up, instead of down.
The Senate leader cited the case of Cagayan de Oro City, where he said during his privilege speech that the rates increased from P10.62 per kilowatt-hour in January to P14.90 in July last year.
“It has been 21 years since we passed the EPIRA. If we need to review and amend it to respond to the condition at this time, we are prepared to do so. It is now ripe for review,” Zubiri said.
He noted that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had called for Congress to work on reducing power rates in his first State of the Nation Address in July.
According to MCPC president David Tauli, electricity rates in Mindanao had increased from an average of P6 per kilowatt-hour (Kwh) to P12 – and from an average of P8 to P20 per kWh during peak hours – from 2016 to 2022.
He said rates differed depending on the time of day and are higher during peak hours.
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