The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is set to launch its P382.86 million upgraded distribution system to be incorporated into its decade-long Smart Grid program to begin next year.
The project, approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission in 2014, will replace the Operating Trouble Management System (OTMS) which has been in operation since 1998.
Meralco president and CEO Oscar Reyes said the launch of the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) next month is a key building block in the power distributor’s move to a more automated grid.
“This system will provide a great level of visibility of our network and will allow us, among other things, to minimize the impact of outages through re-routing power,” he said.
The ADMS will perform the function of an outage management system and distribution management system to improve Meralco’s system.
The power distributor recently demonstrated to the ERC its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), a supplement to its Prepaid Retail Electric Service (PRES).
“The evolution of our Smart Grid is a necessity to maintain a highly reliable network and respond to the coming challenges that distributed generation such as wind, solar or battery storage will have on our grid operations,” Reyes said.
Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio also listed other programs the company wants to digitally enable. This are the I-Join, which will allow customers to track their applications online, the I-Pay, where bills and payment can be may online, the I-Ask, which allows customers to chat live with agents, and the I-need Repair, which allows customers to inform Meralco about power outages.
“We will ensure that we are able to meet our changing customer needs by opening new digital channels, providing more information and insights and offering more innovative products and services,” Panlilio said.