• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is pushing for additional power generation projects to ensure the stability of the transmission system under the new Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone.
“We need to continue building power plants because if the growth of demand exceeds supply, we end up with chronic deficiency and we don’t want that,” said Cynthia Perez-Alabama, NGCP Public Relations Office chief.
While power transmission services and the reliability of the grid improved in the three islands, after the energization of the CNP 230-kiloVolt (kV) Backbone Project Stage 3 (CNP3) in March this year, Alabama said that such development is “not the big solution to the challenges of an island system.”
“NGCP long advocates for power sufficiency per island because we cannot rely on imports from other islands. That’s why it’s important that each island should have enough for its own needs,” Alabanza made the call during a recent Power 101 forum held in Bacolod City.
It should not be all-solar, all-hydro, or all-coal, she stressed.
“Coal is stable but vulnerable to fluctuations in international coal prices; hydro is vulnerable to the weather, and solar is intermittent. A balanced energy mix is important,” Alabama further said.
Negros Island is producing about 300 megawatts of electricity from solar power plants, 240MW from geothermal power plants, and about 26MW from diesel power plants, totaling 540MW, according to Neil Martin Modina, NGCP Assistant Vice President and head of the Visayas System Operations.
“Negros’ demand is about 380MW. If solar is operating, you have reserve power, but at night, you’re importing from Cebu and Panay,” Modina disclosed.
The CNP3 upgraded the existing Amlan-Samboan submarine cable connecting Cebu and Negros. In the first stage, a new 230-kiloVolt (kV) transmission line from Bacolod to EB Magalona was added, while the Cebu Substation was upgraded into 230kV level during the second stage.
“Currently for Negros, it’s better than ever in terms of transmission because it’s the area of CNP3,” NGCP transmission planning manager Michael Baylosis said.*
