Napocor to add more capacity in off-grid areas (Sabong News)

State-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) plans to further expand capacity in missionary areas, after registering more than sixfold increase in the past five years, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported. In a DOF statement, Napocor Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Melchor Ridulme said they are looking at increasing capacity additions in off-grid areas to 106.58 megawatts and transmission lines to 1,125.46 circuit kilometers by June this year. Moreover, Napocor is also planning to increase substation capacity to 225 megawatts by June 2022, Ridulme said. As of December 2021, Napocor’s capacity additions in missionary areas rose from 13.66 megawatts (MW) in 2016 to 88.53 MW, or more than sixfold in the past five years under the Duterte administration. It has also added 321.5 circuit kilometers (ckt.km) of transmission lines in missionary areas from the 776.03 ckt.km in 2016, bringing the total existing transmission lines as of December 2021 to 1,097.6 ckt.km. Napocor said it has also increased the transformer capacity of its substations serving missionary areas from 170 megavolt amperes (MVA) in 2016 215 MVA as of December 2021. “The Napocor plans to expand capacity additions in missionary areas to 106.58 megawatts and its transmission lines to 1,125.46 circuit kilometers, along with increasing substation capacity to 225 megawatts by June 2022,” Ridulme said. Ridulme said the Napocor currently operates 285 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) plants in 229 missionary areas in the country. The Napocor is targeting to increase the number of its SPUG plants to 296 and expand its coverage to 240 missionary areas by June this year, he added. From 41 SPUG plants operating 24 hours in 2016, the Napocor now has 82 SPUG plants operating round the clock, Ridulme said. NPC is also active in the reforestation of watershed open areas to support sustainable hydro and geothermal plant operations in the main grids. From 1,881 hectares (has.) in 2016, the Napocor has expanded its reforestation in watershed open areas to 4,419 has. as of December last year, he said. Under Republic Act (RA) No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the Napocor is responsible for providing power generation and its associated power delivery systems in areas that are not connected to the transmission system. Missionary electrification projects are funded from the revenues from sales in the missionary areas and from the universal charge (UC) to be collected from all electricity end-users.