Engineers of MORE Power monitor the power supply situation in Iloilo City at their new command center on Tuesday, 09 July 2024. MORE Power gets additional supply from Mindanao power producers with the operationalization of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 July) – The energization of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) was a “defining moment” for the Philippines as it now connects all the major grids in the country, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
During his 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, Marcos said the energy sharing and transfers between, among, and within Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have become possible with the energization of the MVIP last January.
“The ‘unified Philippine Grid’ is a fulfillment of this dream, whose seeds were planted in the 80s, through a vision bolstered by R&D (research and development), which we accomplished by applying typical Filipino persistence and dedication,” he said.
Construction of the long-delayed MVIP project started during the term of immediate past President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the P52-billion MVIP was a “landmark undertaking” to achieve power stability and reliability across the country.
It said that the project consists of a 184 circuit-kilometer High-Voltage Direct Current submarine transmission line connecting the power grids of Mindanao and Visayas and is capable of carrying 450 megawatts (MW), which is expandable to 900 MW.
“The MVIP will benefit consumers by providing them a more reliable and sustainable power transmission service that will lessen the instances of power interruptions. It will also promote energy resource sharing, as excess power generated in one region can now be transmitted to the other,” according to the NGCP, the country’s only power grid operator.
Marcos said that his administration acknowledges that power is costly in the country.
He vowed that the government would build more energy infrastructures to gradually lower the cost of electricity across the nation. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
