ERC okays Meralco sub-station expansion in BGC

MANILA, Philippines – The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) planned expansion of its sub-station in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City.

The expansion is worth P253.53-million ($5.63 million*).

The ERC directed Meralco to conduct a competitive bidding for the purchase of major materials for the project implementation. The commission also asked the utility firm to submit a progress report, and remit P1.90 million ($42,316.31) in permit fees.

Currently, the residential and commercial customers in BGC are being served by 34.5 kilovolt (kV) distribution feeders from Meralco’s FBGC-4 sub-station. However, due to the rapid development and large load applications in high-density BGC, that substation is expected to be overloaded at 101% by 2015.

The expansion of Meralco’s FBGC-4 to 115kV-35kV sub-station is the most beneficial and the best immediate option that would address the capacity deficiency in BGC, ERC said in an 18-page order.

“The project will provide increased reliability and operational efficiency that will benefit various existing residential and commercial customers, multinational corporations, international schools, business process outsourcing offices (BPOs), and other vital customers in the area,” said the ERC.

Without the additional capacity, it would not be able to accommodate additional service or load in the area. Assuming that these additional loads will be connected to the said sub-station without additional capacity, these loads would result in the overloading of the substation at 118% usage, Meralco explained in its application.

Further, several transformers in BGC already reached the 70% loading limit of power transformers to trigger augmentation.

“Moreover, as the sub-station’s demand approach critical overloading, many residential, commercial, and BPO customers in BGC will be affected,” the utility firm added.

 “The project will not only relieve the expected overloading of FBGC-4 Bank No.1 at 101% in 2015 but will also prevent prolonged power interruptions during contingencies,” the ERC said. – Rappler.com

Bonifacio Global City image from Wikipedia

*($1 = P45.00)