NGCP energizes P3.6-B Pagbilao substation project
By Myrna M. Velasco – November 4, 2022, 2:44 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has already energized the P3.6-billion extra high voltage (EHV) Pagbilao substation, which will help wheel electricity from the southern part of the Luzon grid.
According to the company, that newly completed project can “accommodate the connection of incoming power plants in Quezon province,” primarily the coal-fired power facilities in that area.
With the expanded capacity of the system operator’s load network in that domain, NGCP emphasized that around 1,420 megawatts of power capacity can be injected into the system.
Additionally, the EHV substation would be able to “maximize and optimize the operations of the existing Tayabas 500/230-kilovolt transformers and Tayabas 230kV substation.”
NGCP added that “to accommodate the connection of the upgraded facilities to the power grid, the Pagbilao-Tayabas line segment of the Naga-Tayabas line was energized at a 500kV level.”
The transmission company likewise emphasized that at the course of the project’s completion, there had been challenges and hurdles that they needed to overcome – primarily on the sphere of permitting and right-of-way (ROW) concerns; and these were even aggravated by the niggling impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pagbilao EHV substation project was carried out by the company following the warranted approval that it needed to secure first from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the regulator of the restructured power sector.
The ERC is currently updating the rate-setting process that it shall enforce for NGCP, being the sole operator of the country’s power transmission network, so all of the company’s projects can be implemented on time.
The dilemma of regulatory lag had affected not just the implementation of NGCP projects, but even the calculation of prudently incurred costs on its tariff-setting which could have guaranteed that there is no mismatch in the rates being passed on to the consumers.
The ERC assured that the years of delay in the rate adjustment for NGCP will finally be fixed, hence, a correspondingly adjusted tariff for NGCP will finally be experienced in the bills by next year.
Apart from reinforcing grid reserves and instituting certainty in the power system’s reliability, NGCP will also have a very critical function in the integration of massive-scale renewables that is envisioned in the country’s ‘energy transition’ agenda.
