Philippines Invests $2.2 Billion to Increase Grid Capacity, Power Security

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Philippines National Grid Corporation, the operator of the country's power transmission network, is planning to invest $2.2 billion in six key projects to meet the additional power demands from a number of new power plants coming on-stream.

The projects are the $84 million, 230-kilovolt (kV) Northern Luzon backbone; the $214 million, 500-kV Western Luzon backbone; the $325 million, 500-kV Metro Manila backbone; the $255 million Batangas-Mindoro interconnection; the $837 million, 230-kV Cebu-Negro-Panay backbone; and the $512 million Leyte-Mindanao interconnection project (LMIP).

If the LMIP is not feasible, an alternative will be the $675 million Negros-Mindanao interconnection project, which would raise the total investment for the six projects to about $2.4 billion over the next five to eight years.

The Northern Luzon backbone project is being planned to handle the major wind power generation in the north and to improve the overall reliability of the transmission network. Anticipating an increase in generation capacity in Bataan and Pangasinan, the Western Luzon project will develop a western corridor backbone to allow the transmission of power from power plants to Metro Manila, as well as secure the reliability and stability of the grid.

The Metro Manila backbone will service the quickly growing power demand in the capital. Metro Manila takes about 70% of the total power load in Luzon, and the transmission backbone will have the capacity to transfer larger volumes of power from the north and south. The Batangas-Mindoro interconnection will connect the Luzon main grid and the Mindoro grid.

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