NGCP advancing facility upgrade for upcoming power plants in Quezon

By Myrna M. Velasco – October 13, 2018, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

With several power plants currently under varying degrees of development in Quezon province, system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is lining up its 500-kilovolt Pagbilao substation project to guarantee that these facilities’ generated electricity can be accommodated in the transmission system.

This transmission facility had been earmarked a capital outlay of P4.016 billion based on the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission. It is eyed for completion in March 2020.

NGCP said it already concluded public consultations with concerned local government units as well as the communities that will be affected by the installation of the proposed facility.

“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 people’s livelihood,” the company explained.

Essentially, NGCP noted that this will support the wheeling of capacity from the 420-megawatt Pagbilao coal-fired plant which is now operating commercially; and the 500MW San Buenaventura Power coal-fired facility which is targeted on-line next year.

This project will also be a breakthrough for the 600-megawatt liquefied natural gas-fired power plant in Pagbilao – that had been marred with delays for years because of transmission facility dilemmas.

NGCP stressed “with over 1,500MW of power coming into the grid once these plants are on-line, we need a new gateway of power in Quezon province which can fully accommodate all these.”

The company said the Pagbilao 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.”

Apart from the new substation’s construction, the project will also cover expansion of the existing 500kV Tayabas substation.

“This expansion will address the problem of overloading of the Tayabas 500/230-kV transformers and fault level issues,” the company said.