LAOAG CITY — At least 23 transmission lines of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) are expected to be completed by July, this year.
Due to scouring of the Sta. Maria River during the onslaught of typhoon Ineng that toppled the NGCP transmission lines, the operator of the country’s electricity superhighway opted to re-route a portion of the transmission line in Santa Maria and Narvacan, Ilocos Sur.
In a briefing held at the Java Hotel on Wednesday, Engr. Renato Julian of the Transmission Planning of the NGCP said constructing the 230 kV line double circuit steel towers of San Esteban to Laoag took them a period of 15 years to establish the transmission backbone project which aims to transmit power generated by the wind and solar farms in Ilocos Norte and provide a better reliability of the transmission network.
In December 2015, both the 106 ckm (circuit kilometer) of San Esteban and 112 ckm Laoag side had been energized. To protect the by-pass lines and adjacent structures including the San Esteban-Bantay-Laoag 115 kV line due to scouring of the riverbank, the NGCP also constructed a riverbank revetment.
The new towers, according to the NGCP, were also upgraded to withstand the coutry’s strongest typhoon signal number 5.
In Northern Luzon, Engr.Frank Maala of the NGCP projects in Luzon also reported that another 230 kV transmission backbone is being rolled out in the next three years as a reinforcement and to accommodate bulk generation additions of more wind farms to be constructed here. For 2017, the loop is expected to be connected from Santiago, Isabela to Tuguegarao City in Cagayan and from Tuguegarao to Lallo, Cagayan by 2018.
Maala added that there is also an on-going development of another looping of the 500 and 230kV line connecting Laoag-Bangui to Sanchez Mira and then to Pudtol, Apayao from Lallo, Cagayan to be completed by 2015.
Attended by representatives of the local government units, electric cooperatives of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte and the Director for Luzon of the Department of Energy, a power forum was organized by the NGCP in Laoag City on February 15 to provide updates on its projects particularly concerning Northern Luzon and the San Esteban-Laoag kV line. PNA-northboundasia.com