Hedcor commissions new substation

Hedcor increases its reliability in delivering clean and renewable energy as it commissions its new substation in Banengbeng, Sablan.

The new substation will ensure uninterrupted transmission and distribution of generated power to Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) and to National Power Corporation (NPC). All in all the sub-station will cater a total of 10MW of energy generated through run-of-river hydropower scheme from Bineng 1, 2, 2B, 3 plants in the Municipality of La Trinidad and 8MW from Ampohaw plant in Sablan.

The Bineng plants supplies about 10,000kwhs to 14 BENECO load centers in Banengbeng. The rest of the generated energy are coursed through the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) transmission lines to the NPC which supplies other electric cooperatives or other qualified third parties.

The construction of the substation is part of the Quality Improvement Program (QIP) and Risk Reduction Management (ORM) of Hedcor that proactively seeks permanent solutions to underlying conditions.

“The substation was built with the highest features to ensure steady flow of power supply from our plants to our customers,” mentioned Engr. Benjie Bartolome, Hedcor’s Electrical Department Head.

State of the art design of circuit breakers and switches were secured to enable disconnection during inevitable electrical faults and emergency situations thus preventing damages during those times.

The event last year wherein Bineng and Ampohaw experience a shutdown due to power transformer problem prompt the team to seek for permanent solution. Through a root cause analysis, it was found out that overloading and aging of the 22 years Ampohaw Substation are the main reasonS for transformer failure. Imbibing the innovative attribute of AboitizPower, the team moved to prevent further shutdowns.

The substation is also designed and installed to cater the anticipated expansion of Bineng 1 and 2 plants. Together with the existing Ampohaw Substation which will become the spare transformer, BMS will ensure continues supply of power to customers.