Meralco seeks ERC approval on BGC substation expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, is seeking the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a proposed expansion of its substation in Fort Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig on the back of the rapid real estate development in the mixed-used area.

In an application filed with the ERC on Dec. 19, Meralco sought the green light for the expansion of its FGBC-4 115 kilovolt-34.5 kV substation to serve the power needs of the large load customers and the real estate development in the area.

Meralco said that at present, residential and commercial customers in BGC are currently being served by 34.5 kV distribution feeders from its FBCG-4 substation.

In its application, Meralco said there is a need for expansion given the new projects put up by different developers in the area.

“Due to the rapid development and large load applications in BGC, such as Megaworld’s Uptown Place Tower’s 1 and 2 and Uptown Place Mall, the Net Group’s Net Group’s net Park, Federal Land’s Federal Center and Shangri-La at the Fort, FGBC-4 substation’s bank no. 1 is expected to be overloaded at 101 percent in 2015,” Meralco said in its application.

Furthermore, the power distributor warned that without the additional capacity, the substation would not be able to accommodate additional service or load in the area from projects in the pipeline such as the Metrobank Financial Center in 2016.

“Assuming that these additional loads will be connected to the FBGC-4 Substation without additional capacity, these loads would result in the overloading of the said Substation at 118 percent usage,” Meralco said in its application.

As a result, it said that business process outsourcing or BPO customers would be affected in the eventual capacity deficiency.

Thus, Meralco is proposing to add another 83 MVA power transformer and associated facilities in its substation and to construct four new 34.5 kV underground feeders within BGC and several overhead lines.

“The proposed project is the best immediate option to address the capacity deficiency in the high-density urban area of BGC. This project will not only relieve the expected overloading of FBGC-4 bank no. 1 at 101 percent in 2015 but will also prevent prolonged power interruptions during contingencies,” Meralco said.

Meralco estimates the expansion project to cost P253 million.