Kalayaan Hall, Malacañan Palace
January 26, 2024
“It is for the first time in the history of our nation, the three major power grids — those of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao — are now physically connected,” announced President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as he led the switch-on energization of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) in a ceremony at the Kalayaan Hall in Malacañan Palace.
A landmark project by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) worth PhP52 billion, the MVIP connects the Mindanao and Visayas grids via a 184 circuit-kilometer High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) submarine transmission line, running from Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte to Santander, Cebu, and includes 526 circuit-kilometers of overhead lines. This project is designed to carry 450 megawatts (MW) of electricity, expandable up to 900MW to meet future demands.
“The realization of our ‘One Nation, One Grid’ aspiration is definitely a crucial turning point for the country in ensuring reliable power at all times,” said the President, adding that with the commencement of MVIP’s commercial operations, it would unlock massive potential for socio-economic development in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
During the ceremony, the President also took the opportunity to address power-related incidents reported at the start of this year, specifically in Panay Island, which greeted the new year with a total blackout lasting three (3) days, while parts of Negros Occidental experienced rotational power outages. According to the President, the power interruption caused substantial economic losses, amounting to PhP3.8 million in the province of Iloilo alone.
“We cannot afford to have another round of this costly interruption, not only in Panay Island but anywhere in the country. Let us move forward with the lessons we have gained from this blackout and ensure that this massive inconvenience should not occur again,” he urged, recognizing NGCP’s critical role in ensuring power stability and the completion of other initiatives to provide a steady and reliable source of power across the country.
These initiatives include the completion of the 230-kilovolt (kV) Cebu-Negros-Panay backbone project (CNP3) in March 2024, which is expected to prevent prolonged power blackouts in Panay Island, and the completion of the Hermosa-San Jose 500kV project next month, which will serve as Luzon’s transmission backbone.
Concluding his message, the President reiterated his directive for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to complete the reset of NGCP’s rates following the island-wide blackout that gripped Western Visayas at the beginning of this year, and to ensure NGCP continues to comply with its statutory and regulatory obligations. He also ordered the Department of Energy (DOE) and the ERC to review proposals that would allow third parties to construct transmission projects complementing the country’s power needs.
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