VECO upgrade to give reliable power supply

CEBU, Philippines - Consumers are now assured of adequate supply of power with less interruption after the Visayan Electric Company upgraded the capacity of its substations.

Engineer Mark Anthony Kindica, VECO's AVP for engineering and operations, said the substations in Mandaue City and in Barangays Mabolo and Camputhaw in Cebu City have been upgraded to increase reliability.

Kindica said the transformers in these substations were replaced in order to increase its existing capacity. 

He said these three substitutions have doubled its previous capacity of 33MVA.

"A 33MVA capacity can power around 4,000 households whose average consumption is 200 kWh," Kindica said.

The upgrading project started in 2012 with the one in Mandaue City. It was followed with the Mabolo substation in January 2013 and subsequently the Camputhaw substation in April 2015. The upgrading was completed last May.

The three substations cover the areas of Barangays Lahug, Busay, Camputhaw, Guadalupe, Capitol Site, Mabolo, and Kasambagan in Cebu City and Barangays Tipolo, Guizo, Casuntingan, Subangdaku and the rest of Mandaue City.

Engr. Andy Besana, supervisor of VECO's Power System Design Department, said that one additional feature of these upgraded substations is its being motorized.

"This enables VECO personnel to have a remote access to the substation. This is especially most useful in power trip off incidents," Besana said.

Besana explained that previously people had to wait for engineers to get to the station and check it during power trip offs but now, the restoration of power is faster since they can access it at their main office in Banilad.

"Now that we have doubled our capacity, we can cater to new customers. We have been preparing for this since we have projected Cebu's rapid growth," Kindica said.

The Talisay and Banilad substations are currently being upgraded.

The upgrading of substations is part of the 10-year development plan of VECO where improvements and upgrades are based on the forecast of demands.

VECO serves the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, Naga and four municipalities of the greater part of Metro Cebu - Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla and San Fernando. (FREEMAN)