Meralco to put up P140-M substation in Laguna

BY LENIE LECTURA – MARCH 31, 2022
from Business Mirror

THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is putting up a substation worth P140 million to ensure that the country’s largest hyperscale data center will have reliable and high-quality electricity service.

The substation will be built on the site of Vitro Santa Rosa, the 11th hyperscale data center of the PLDT Group. It is currently being constructed on a 5-hectare property in Laguna.

“The new Meralco substation is designed to support the distinct power requirements of the Vitro data center through the delivery of safe, adequate, reliable, and high-quality electricity service, consistent with our commitment to our 7.4 million customers,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Networks Ronnie L. Aperocho said.

The Meralco official said the substation will cost “around P140 million” and could be finished by June next year. The project, Aperocho added, still needs the green light of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Meralco said in a statement that the substation will serve the power requirements of the hyperscale data center and will have the capability to scale up and address the growing power demand of the facility over time through the installation of additional power banks.

This substation design will also provide resilient and flexible power to the data center, ensuring service continuity that goes beyond the standard requirements of the TIA-942 Rated-3 coverage.

“In a developing country like the Philippines, innovations become imperative to support and spur development,” Aperocho said. “Meralco is honored to be part of this groundbreaking milestone of the PLDT Group, enabling more innovations to provide topnotch service to its clients.”

Meralco President Ray C. Espinosa said Meralco also commits to support PLDT’s thrust to utilize renewable energy (RE) and energy efficient technologies to make the data center operations truly sustainable.

“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 MW [megawatts] of our power requirements in the next five years from renewables and to build 1,500 MW of RE generation capacity by 2027,” Espinosa added.

Vitro Santa Rosa is designed to be energy efficient utilizing the latest innovations in cooling and power redundancy. It is Tier-3 certified and Tier-4 ready, and has the highest level of network diversity and resilience with at least three fiber routes from PLDT, augmented by routes from other carriers.

“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,” PLDT President Alfredo S. Panlilio said. “With Vitro Santa Rosa, we aim to set the benchmark in infrastructure resilience, operational excellence, global competitiveness, and world-class sustainability.”