Upgrade of National Grid Corp.’s Bacolod substation completed
MANILA, Philippines—The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines has completed the P13-million upgrade of its Bacolod substation in Negros Occidental to help improve the over-all reliability of the country’s electric transmission system.
By upgrading its Bacolod Substation, the NGCP is able to comply with the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) 61850 standard for the improvement of the communication operability and data transfer of power substations.
According to NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza, the project is expected to lead to more efficient and accurate operations because of less human intervention.
“Through this new system, monitoring and reporting of over-all substation status may be done in real-time, thereby improving the accuracy of information the computer transmits to our control centers. NGCP invests in these kinds of projects to improve our power delivery service to our customers and to prepare the grid for larger demand in the future,” Alabanza said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Following the completion of the project last December 2012, the substation is now equiped with new microprocessor-based substation controls (MBSC) which were provided by the NARI Group Corp. and Maxipro Development Corp.
According to the NGCP, the MBSC technology is expected to automate functions of substations that were carried manually in the past. Through MBSC, substation operations and manipulation of switchyard equipment may be done remotely through computers inside the control room.
It added that the MBSC works in tandem with the protection relay, supervisory control and data acquisition, and anti-fire systems to boost the overall security and reliability of the substation.
The Bacolod Substation currently caters to the power needs of three electric cooperatives on Negros Island, namely, Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative Inc. (Noceco), VMC Rural Electric Service Cooperative, Inc. (Vresco), and Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco).
