The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced that it has energized its 500-kilovolt (kV) Mariveles-Hermosa transmission line which will accommodate more than  2,500 megawatts (MW) worth of electricity generated from various power plants in Bataan.

With a cost of Php6 billion, the 49.2-kilometer line connects NGCP’s substations in Barangay Alas-asin in Mariveles and Barangay Balsik in Hermosa. The Mariveles substation is particularly adjacent to Aboitiz Power Corporation’s 1,336MW GNPower Dinginin coal-fired power plant, the country’s largest generation facility, and the 632MW GNPower Mariveles coal plant.

The Hermosa substation, meanwhile, will house 2,000 megavolt amperes (MVA), the largest MVA capacity of any NGCP transformer bank to date. The facility can expand up to 4000 MVA in anticipation of bulk generation in the coming years.

“The capacity of the new Balsik Substation will ensure that more power can be dispatched by the transmission system, and will greatly improve the overall grid reliability and stability of the 500kV network,” the grid firm said in a statement.

NGCP’s new line was declared an Energy Project of National Significance by the Department of Energy in 2019. 

The grid firm has more critical projects in its pipeline, which include the Hermosa-San Jose 500kV transmission backbone project, the Cebu-Negros-Panay, and the Cebu-Bohol interconnection project, as well as the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), which NGCP’s looking to launch in October this year. 

The MVIP aims to realize power-sharing between the three main grids, NGCP said. 

Earlier, NGCP allotted a capital expenditure of Php160 billion until 2024 to help fund its transmission projects in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.