HERE are the latest developments on power transmission program in the country that will affect Pangasinan.

NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Phils.), the power transmission provider in the country, had expressed support for the energy sector’s move towards green energy or alternative renewable sources of power through its Transmission Development Plan (TDP).

The annual TDP targets 50% integration of renewables in the grid’s installed capacity by 2040 with the help of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), NGCP’s technical partner, that owns world-leading grid technologies as it runs a green and sustainable power grid. The company integrated the largest amount of renewables in the world with the installed capacity of renewables at 540 GigaWatts (GW) and utilization rate at 97.4% in 2021.

“With its access to SGCC’s technology, NGCP is more than capable to accommodate the increasing integration of renewable energy into the grid for a more sustainable energy mix,” the company added.

However, integrating more Renewable Energy requires more from the energy sector  in addition to significant transmission backbone expansion that will require reinforcement in both policy and support infrastructure, i.e., capital expenditure heavy projects requiring regulatory approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission, planned simultaneous entry of more conventional, non-variable generation and energy storage systems to support VRE installations,  support policies including but not limited to revisiting the  Philippine Grid Code, and prioritization of the development of Competitive Renewable Energy Zones to synchronize generation and transmission projects must be well coordinated, among others.

The role of the ERC will be centrally crucial to the success of all this.

The move to RE may take time but efforts must begin now. Even first world countries take around 10 years to build transmission backbone projects. NGCP was able to complete the Hermosa-San Jose 500kV Line, including a new substation and 176.73 circuit kilometers of high voltage lines, in seven years. This includes the delay brought about the 3-year COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and the fact that we were only allowed to recover less than 1% of the project cost.  With all things considered, NGCP is sure it can deliver its committed projects to improve the grid, as long as the political will and support are there and we are given a sustainable recovery framework,” the company said. (NGCP)

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