VECO acquires mobile substation

CEBU, Philippines - The Visayan Electric Company, Inc. invested over P40 million in the acquisition of a “mobile substation” designed to enhance power availability of any substation by serving as backup and to deliver power supply to customers during emergency and scheduled substation maintenance.

In a statement to The FREEMAN, it was learned that the said mobile substation is the first in the Visayas, particularly here in Cebu, manufactured by the Philippine Electric Corporation in Taytay, Rizal and designed by Filipino electrical engineers.

This mobile substation has the same features as VECO’s existing land-based substations in terms of capacity and protection except that it is loaded on a trailer for easy mobility.

It is a completely self-contained trailer-mounted power substation unit comprised of power transformer, high and low voltage disconnect switches, power circuit breakers, metering, monitoring, control devices and protective relays, surge protection and AC and DC auxiliary power and cooling equipment.

Jaime Jose “Jimmy” Aboitiz, VECO president and chief operating officer, said that it is the main purpose of the mobile substation to guarantee uninterrupted distribution of electricity to thousands of VECO clients being served.

“It’s an insurance for us that in case something happens to one of the substations, just drive it to that substation, plug in all the necessary wires and the distribution will resume in a short while allowing consumers not having to experience interrupted power supply,” Aboitiz said.

The substation can cater to over 20,000 households with its 33 megavolt-ampere capacity. It can be transported to any of the 13 power substations within VECO’s franchise area.

Ethel Natera, corporate communications manager, assured the public that this recent investment of VECO will not be passed on to the consumers as the investment was taken from the fund allotted for the distribution cost of company operations. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV