National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is seeking the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a P662.7-million expansion project to maintain stable power supply in Metro Manila.
In a statement, NGCP said it was planning to install another transformer in its Las Piñas Substation, one of the six such facilities that supply power to Metro Manila through electricity distributor Manila Electric Co., or Meralco.
The expansion project could be completed 33 months after ERC approval, NGCP said.
Currently, the Las Piñas Substation has three 300-megavolt ampere (MVA) power transformers as installed capacity. NGCP intends to add another 300-MVA transformer to boost the substation’s capacity and meet the increasing demand of Meralco’s customers in the area.
The system operator pushes for the implementation of the project to address the contingency requirement of the Philippine Grid Code, which says the transmission system must function normally despite the loss of one major component such as a transformer.
NGCP said that in its present state, the Las Piñas Substation was at risk of transformer overload if any one of the three would malfunction. Overloading of the remaining transformers would “gravely” affect the power supply of Metro Manila, NGCP said.
“If the Las Piñas Substation suffers overloading, we will then have to resort to load shedding. By carrying out this project, we can avoid this scenario since the substation will be more capable of handling larger load,” said Rico C. Vega, NGCP’s deputy assistant chief technical officer for planning and engineering.