Transco fires up second transmission line to Luzon Grid

MANILA, Philippines - The National Transmission Corporation (Transco) announced that it added some 600 megawatts of power from coal plants in the northern Luzon area after it energized line 2 of the 230-kV Concepcion-Mexico transmission line over the weekend. Transco president Arthur Aguilar said that with Line 2 online, the Luzon Grid is more reliable, putting additional capacity and will prevent possible power outages. The new transmission line has also partially relieved the transmission line congestion caused by the breakdown of a 600-MVA transformer in TransCo’s San Jose substation in Bulacan. “Because of the premature breakdown of one of the San Jose transformers, power from these coal plants that should go to the Luzon Grid have been limited," Aguilar said. He said that Line 2 also allowed Transco to increase the share of coal-produced electricity in the overall generation mix in the Luzon grid. Transco officials said it means more power from cheaper sources for consumers. The generation mix is the total megawatts produced by all types of power plants such as hydro, oil, natural gas, wind and coal. Asked if there is enough power during peak hours, Venice Escuadro, Transco communucations officer, said "power supply in the Luzon grid is not deficient even in peak hours" but the new infrastructure allows consumers to source 600MW of cheaper power from the Luzon Grid. - GMANews.TV