The National Grid Corporation of Philippines has been granted the sole mandate to undertake the implementation of the Visayas-Mindanao Grid Connection Project. The PhP 51.67-billion project involves the construction of a 92 km long, ±350 kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable between the Santander (in Cebu, Visayas) and Dapitan (in Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao) cable terminal stations (CTSs); a 50 km long, ±350 kV HVDC overhead transmission line (OHTL) from the Santander CTS to the Sibonga converter station in Cebu; a 135 km long, HVDC OHTL from the Dapitan CTS to the New Aurora converter station in Mindanao; new converter stations, including associated electrode stations and electrode lines in Sibonga, Cebu and Aurora, Mindanao; a new substation in Umapad, Cebu, including associated transmission line extensions from the Cebu-Lapu transmission line cable; CTSs in Santander (Cebu) and Dapitan (Zamboanga Del Norte); and expansion of the Magdugo (in Cebu) and New Aurora (in Mindanao) substations. The project aims to establish a unified electricity market in the Philippines, and is expected to allow Visayas to evacuate electricity from hydro energy resources in Mindanao. The work on the project is expected to be completed by 2020.
