THE National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) expect their expansion activities this year to bring power to 30,000 more households, the Department of Finance (DoF) said in a statement on Thursday.
Napocor and TransCo have a combined target of adding 45.31 megawatts to the capacity they can deliver, via the addition of 71.3 circuit kilometers of transmission lines, and the construction of 45 MVA substations this year, the DoF said, citing a report from the two companies.
The two companies have a mandate to provide electricity to underserved areas.
Napocor’s Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) also plans to install 11 plants to provide continuous power to unserved areas as part of its missionary electrification activities this year.
An estimated 1,080,242 households with access to electricity were allied in missionary areas last year, with 473,845 households still lacking access.
Napocor said it hopes to give 28,972 households access to electricity this year, and reduce the number of households with no power in unserved areas to 444,873.
Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 tasks Napocor with providing power to off-grid islands, or areas not connected to any power distribution network, through SPUG operations.
The same law created TransCo, which has been designated the operator of off-grid power systems with two or more power suppliers.
TransCo was also tasked with completing a power development plan (PDP) for the interconnection of unserved and underserved island municipalities this year, particularly the PDPs for the Palawan island grid and that of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. — Angelica Y. Yang