Meralco to power PLDT’s planned hyperscale center

Power utility giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Thursday announced that it is set to build a custom-designed substation to specifically cater to the power needs of the PLDT Group’s largest hyperscale data center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The Vitro Sta. Rosa data center, once completed, will be PLDT’s eleventh hyperscale data center and will also be the largest in the country to date.

It is currently being constructed on a five-hectare property in Laguna, the power for which will be sourced from Meralco’s substation that will go beyond the standard requirements of the planned facility’s capacity.

Meralco said the substation will have the capability to scale up and address over time the growing power demand of the facility through the installation of additional power banks.

Electricity requirements

“Beyond providing the massive power requirements of the hyperscale data center, Meralco also commits to support PLDT’s thrust to utilize renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies to make the data center operations truly sustainable,” said Meralco president and CEO Ray Espinosa.

“This is also timely as Meralco has already started shifting towards delivering clean energy to our customers beginning with our commitment to source 1,500 megawatts of our power requirements in the next five years from renewables, and to build 1,500 MW of RE generation capacity by 2027,” he added.

Vitro Sta. Rosa, in turn, is designed to utilize the latest innovations in cooling and power redundancy. It will have the highest level of network diversity and resilience with at least three fiber routes from PLDT, augmented by routes from other carriers.

Hyperscaler hub

“The PLDT Group is one with the nation in building a digitally-advanced Philippines and making our country the next hyperscaler destination in Asia-Pacific. With Vitro Sta. Rosa, we aim to set the benchmark in infrastructure resilience, operational excellence, global competitiveness, and world-class sustainability,” said PLDT president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio.

“A facility of this caliber ensures the best possible customer experience not for our hyperscale clients, but also for the Filipino end-users consuming their services,” he added.

Hyperscale data centers are massive facilities used to support robust and scalable applications. Big data-producing companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft use these systems to store, process, and disseminate data and applications.