Meralco switching station in Caloocan gets ERC okay

MANILA, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved the application of power distributor Manila Electric Co. to build a 115-kilovolt switching station in Caloocan City.

The facility is intended to service additional load coming from two steel companies, which are among Meralco’s industrial customers in Caloocan.

In a decision, the ERC granted provisional approval for the project, saying it would benefit consumers.

“The proposed construction of these 115-kv facilities will address the needed capacity of the (Metrodragon Steel or MSC and ANK Steel) and future large industrial customers in the areas of Caloocan, Valenzuela and Quezon City. Hence, it will ensure the continuous supply of power to the customers being served even during single line outage,” Meralco said in its application.

MSC, an existing Meralco customer with a steel rolling mill in Sitio Gitna Kaybiga, Caloocan City, is applying for a 40 megawatt induction furnace as expansion for its plant.

“Presently, this steel rolling plant has a peak demand of 4.17 MVA and is presently being served by circuit 425YX, a 34.5 kv distribution feeder from Kaybiga Substation,” Meralco said.

On the other hand, ANK is a new customer with a proposed 20-MW smelting induction furnace plant in Sitio Gitna Kaybiga, Caloocan City that will produce steel billets.

Steel furnaces are known to contribute voltage flicker and harmonic distortions which may cause power quality problems in the electric power system, which is why Meralco said additional support is needed.

The power distributor said that without the Sitio Gitna 115-kv switching station, the applications of Metrodragon and ANK customers cannot be served adequately and reliably.

“These two customers will overload the 34.5-kv Kaybiga 425YX and Bagbaguin 413YX feeders and will also result in the critical load of the Bagbaguin Substation and threshold loading of Kaybiga,” Meralco said.

The combined applied load of MSC and ANK facilities is 60 MW. The facilities are scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of the year.