Meralco puts up P439-million substation in Global City

MANILA, Philippines - To improve its service to customers, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has put up a P439-million substationat the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.

Meralco said the substation has an initial capacity of 83 megavolt amperes (MVA), enough to deliver power to critical establishments such as hospitals, embassies, commercial centers, and other communities within BGC and the areas adjacent to it.

Meralco’s substations convert high-voltage power coming from the transmission system to levels suitable for consumption of end-power users. The facility is the 12th Meralco substation that employs state-of-the-art gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) technology.

The GIS technology allows Meralco to adopt a compact building design to save on space requirements and to blend with the surrounding community. The substation aligns with the theme of Bonifacio Global City as a prime location where ‘technology meets aesthetics’.

Meralco president and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said the substation is part of a bigger plan for BGC, which is to build four substations.

“Each substation will have three transformers, each transformer having a capacity of 83 MVA. After further developments, there will be a total of four substations and 12 transformers,” the Meralco chief said.

He said they intend to increase the capacity of the new substation to 1,000 MVA as soon as demand in the area shoots up. “Eventually, we will build up to about a thousand MVA when there is full development of the city. We will scale it up as and when demand is needed.”

“To us, the wonderful thing about it is efficiency. I appreciate GIS, I appreciate the installation. Efficiency is wonderful because you don’t worry about system losses. Energy efficiency also translates to better resource management for all of us — it takes care of our environment.” Beyond technology, it is commitment to energy efficiency,” Energy Secretary Almendras added.

With the new substation, Meralco expects greater efficiency, reliability and adequacy in its delivery of electric service in Taguig City and BGC. This will also help reduce Meralco’s technical losses by around 2.4 megawatt-hours a year, which translates to around P15.1-million reduction in system loss charges to its customers.