The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the power transmission network operator, has received approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for three transmission projects worth PHP 6bn (US$137m).
NGCP plans to invest PHP 3bn (US$68.5bn) in the construction of a 230 kV line between Calaca and Dasmariñas in Batangas, which is expected to accommodate additional power capacities from three new power plants (Puting Bato, San Gabriel and Batangas coal plant) between 2014 and 2017. The company will invest the other PHP 3bn in the construction of two substations. The first one will be built in Antipolo city, to relieve the San Jose substation in Bulacan, which carries the bulk of Metro Manila’s load, and connects large coal-fired power plants such as 600 MW Masinloc, 1,218 MW Sual, 460 MW Quezon and 735 MW Pagbilao. Antipolo substation is expected to be operational in 2016. The second one, the Opol substation project, will ease potential load congestion in Misamis Oriental; it should be commissioned in 2015.