Meralco completes its power substation in New Clark City
By Lenie Lectura -October 18, 2019
from Business Mirror
THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has completed its new power substation in New Clark City (NCC), but electricity could not be delivered yet to due to interconnection issues.
“We have done our part as New Clark city operator. Together with Marubeni, we are ready to connect,” said Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) President Rogelio Singson.
MGen is the power generation arm of Meralco.
The Meralco Marubeni Corp., comprised of Meralco, Marubeni Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc., signed a joint venture agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to provide electricity services in NCC.
“Our transformer substation and the underground distribution line inside NCC are done. Unfortunately, there is an interconnection requirement from our line to the users which is called the last mile,” said Singson.
When asked to elaborate, Singson said in a text message that the building owner has yet to comply with this requirement based on the specifications provided by Shin Clark Power Group “so they can be connected to the distribution lines.”
The 9,450-hectare NCC, located within the Clark special economic zone that spans Angeles City in Pampanga and the towns of Capas and Bamban in Tarlac, is the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient and sustainable city.
The first phase of the development covering 60 hectares features the National Government Administrative Center that will house backup offices of various government agencies and a world-class sports complex now being constructed in time for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
The new metropolis will also have mixed-use residential, commercial, agro-industrial, educational institutions and information-technology developments.
The consortium will put up a special purpose company that will have equity stake equivalent to 90 percent in a joint venture company to be formed with the BCDA. The JVC will then have to pursue and undertake the financing, design and engineering, establishment, construction, development, and operation and maintenance of the electric power distribution system in NCC.
Meralco, which has a 60-percent equity stake in the consortium, said the power substation was recently energized. They submitted the lowest tariff bid of P0.6188 per kilowatt-hour, besting the P0.9888/kwh proposal by the Aboitiz-Kepco Consortium of the Olongapo Energy Corp. and Kepco Philippines Holdings Inc.
