MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has started the construction of a new substation in Kawit, Cavite to support the growing power demand in the area, the company said on Wednesday.
“This Meralco Island Cove Substation will be an integral part of the Meralco Distribution System in Cavite, supporting not just Island Cove’s power requirements, but also that of the communities around Kawit and Bacoor, Cavite,” Ferdinand O. Geluz, Meralco’s first vice-president and chief commercial officer for customer retail services, said in a media release.
The new substation is set to be completed by April 2024. It will house three transformer banks with a combined capacity of 249 megavolt amperes (MVA) of power, with each capable of delivering about 83 MVA.
Meralco said it had signed an agreement with First Orient International Ventures Corp. for the construction of a gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substation on a 2,377-square-meter land bank in Island Cove.
The power distributor said the Kawit substation will help meet the power demand of Island Cove once it is fully operational. The facility will also provide voltage regulation in the area and the needed operational switching flexibility, including the new load application and loaded circuits of existing Meralco substations.
“We continue to encourage companies to closely work with Meralco for their energy requirements to ensure not just the timely energization of facilities, but also the right infrastructure that can efficiently and sufficiently support their operations and the growing need of their neighbor communities,” Meralco Senior Vice-President and Head of Networks Ronnie L. Aperocho.
Earlier this month, Meralco announced that it had commissioned a 115-kiloVolt switching station at the Light Industrial Science Park 2 in Calamba City, Laguna. The project is expected to improve the system reliability and power quality in the area.
The La Mesa switching station will accommodate the increasing power demand of about 13.5 megawatts (MW) this year and 20 MW by 2027.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
