The Mindanao–Visayas Interconnection Project links the regional grids of the country and will enable the sharing of energy resources across networks. Photo credit: Asian Development Bank.
The Mindanao–Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) was energized on 30 April with an initial load of 22.5 megawatts (MW).
“We expect to gradually increase the MVIP's transfer capacity to 50 MW by mid-May, and 112 MW by the end of the month, before energizing to its full transfer capacity of 450 MW by the third quarter of this year," said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), a privately owned company undertaking the project, on 3 May.
The 52-billion-peso (more than $900 million) project enables the linking of the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids into one power grid to improve the supply of electricity in the Philippines and allow the sharing of energy resources across the network. Excess power generated in one region can be transmitted to another region.
A priority infrastructure project of BIMP-EAGA, the power grid interconnection between Mindanao and Visayas, although a national project, is seen to have a major impact on the interconnection between Borneo Island and Mindanao by expanding the demand base of the latter for electricity.
The MVIP comprises a 184 circuit-kilometer high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine transmission line connecting the power grids of Mindanao and Visayas with a transfer capacity of 450 MW, which may be expanded up to 900 MW. The HVDC cables are expected to efficiently transmit energy between Mindanao and Visayas with minimal loss and ensure sufficient supply to areas that need it. The project also includes converter stations in both regions and more than 500 circuit-kilometer of overhead lines to facilitate the flow of electricity.
In February 2022, the NGCP also successfully energized the Lala–Aurora 138-kilovolt (kV) transmission line. This component of the MVIP improves the reliability of power transmission services between Lanao del Norte and provinces in the Zamboanga Peninsula in Mindanao.
Aside from the Lala–Aurora transmission line, parts of the MVIP that were completed last year include the 350-kV submarine cable, and cable terminal stations in Santander, Cebu, and Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.
NGCP said it expects to complete the remaining components of the project and ramp up the transfer capacity of the facility in the coming months.
NGCP is the sole power grid operator in the country. It took over transmission operations from the government in 2009.