If Pagcor’s Entertaiment City wants to be called the Las Vegas of Asia, it’s going to need a lot of lights, not to mention the power needed to ensure that these lights are working.
That’s precisely why the Manila Electric Co., the Philippines’ largest power distributor, is preparing to invest P1.2 billion for the construction of a new substation that would be used to address the power capacity needed to supply Entertainment City. According to Meralco, existing power supplied to Entertainment City isn’t enough in the long term with an overloading predicted to happen in two years time if there additional capacity isn’t up and running by then.
The company is ready to get to work on building the substation but has to receive approval from the Energy Regulator Commission (ERC) before it can get started. “Without the additional capacity to be provided by the proposed project, it will be impossible to accommodate these large load applications in the Pagcor Entertainment City and adjacent areas,” Meralco said. “Thus, to enable the timely energization of these new investor loads in the Pagcor Entertainment City and the additional power requirements of consumers in the adjacent areas, Meralco proposes the development of the Pagcor-1 substation,” it added.
It’s not just Entertainment City that Meralco has to worry about. Adjacent areas surrounding the complex could also require large load power supply in order to get their businesses and establishments up and running.
Meralco is hoping that with the ERC’s approval, it can begin working on the development of the Pagcor-1 substation, which it says would need 18 months to build. It has targeted September 2014 as the time when it can officially energize the substation, thus assuring the locators and the consumers in and around Entertainment City that there will be enough power to meet and address the needs of the establishments in the vicinity.
