The newly energized 230-kilovolt (kV) Calamba substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will beef up the reliability of electricity services for manufacturing firm-locators in various economic zones in southern Luzon.
According to the transmission company, the new facility along with its associated transmission lines will “address continuing load growth or the growing demand for power” – primarily at industrial parks in Laguna, Batangas and nearby provinces.
“This project will benefit mostly industrial customers, particularly factories, manufacturing plants, and other big businesses in the ecozones and industrial parks,” it stressed.
The capital outlay for the project had been pegged at P1.069 billion – inclusive of its three components: the Calamba 230kV substation, Calamba-Bay 230kV transmission line 2, and the Calamba-Binan 230kV transmission line 2.
Citing data from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), NGCP emphasized that at least 10 manufacturing ecozones in Batangas; and 14 in Laguna would be able to experience improvements in their electricity services because of the recently commissioned project.
“These areas are seen to greatly benefit from improved transmission services and improved efficiency in production of these industries and businesses,” the transmission firm reiterated.
Manufacturing firms are known to be generally power-intensive; and they would also need reliable power supply because any service disruption of even just seconds could adversely affect their production line.
On top of power supply reliability and efficiency, the other long-term dilemma of the manufacturing companies that they have constantly sounded off to the government has been the high cost of power in the Philippines.
The transmission firm thus stated that “with many industrial and residential developments south of Metro Manila, NGCP’s new Calamba 230-kV substation is a critical facility for South Luzon.”
The system operator similarly indicated that the facility and the transmission lines linked to it could serve as “another highway to prevent overloading and other reliability issues.”
On top of power supply reliability and efficiency, the other long-term dilemma of the manufacturing companies that they have constantly sounded off to the government has been the high cost of power in the Philippines.
The predicament of expensive electricity rates had been part of the campaign promise of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., but this is a concern of which solution has yet to be addressed by concerned officials of this administration.