Legacy infrastructure, increasing instances of extreme weather across ASEAN, along with adding renewable energy (RE) into the grid all create complications in improving upon a complex grid. The automation of ASEAN power grids will be transformative, not to mention required in the race to net zero. 

Within the current fast-paced energy environment, Meralco has faced obstacles to modernising the grid head-on, but it has been a challenging path. 

Integrating grid automation can be taxing on utilities, but Meralco has unlocked potential by employing new technologies, which can have quantifiable, breakthrough-inducing benefits, yet there is much more to accomplish. 

In his 31 years of service to Meralco, the current Head of Network Technology & Asset Management (AMI Rollout Expert) for the Philippine firm, Jose “Jojo” Jr. Reyes, has seen the power provider advance from traditional utility to the pioneering leader it is today. 

With the incorporation of data during the automation process, Meralco has pinpointed valuable insights that can elevate the grid and allow for more grid reliability.  

“The operations of utilities generate tons of data which can be used for various use cases like system optimization, asset management, outage management, and operational efficiency. The more data we measure and collect, the more insights we uncover. In the case of Meralco, there are four types of data analysis that in turn can deliver insightful data value: descriptive analysis, diagnostic analysis, predictive analysis, and prescriptive analysis,” Jojo described. 

Effective management of data is key to Meralco’s transformation into a utility of tomorrow to remain relevant and dynamic in an evolving energy environment. 

Also essential is the advancement of Meralco’s automation journey, which has been a unique undertaking yielding significant benefits.  

“In the context of Meralco’s automation, it has enabled remote monitoring, and control of its substation, line equipment, and even customer meters. Remote monitoring and control, if coupled with the right backend systems like advanced distributed energy resources and distributed energy resources (DERMs), will help integrate renewable energy sources into the distribution system, allowing more clean and sustainable power to the energy mix. Currently, in terms of decarbonization and true to Meralco’s operation, we continuously are endeavoring to automate the distribution system allowing us to read meters remotely and respond faster to system problems when they happen,” the VP shared. 

To that end, Jojo suggests there is quite a bit of future potential as fuel prices continue to rise. Additionally, he welcomes the opportunity to add more renewable energy sources to the grid, but the cost to ready the distribution system to accept more renewables still remains a tough pill to swallow.  

“One of the challenges in automation is the cost of IoT devices which require robust communication, which is still relatively expensive. Hence you can only apply automation on some portion of your distribution system, which provides the greatest value to both customers and the utility.  During the initial implementation, base communication stations are overloaded, causing delays in transmitting some signals and alarms. Therefore, new base stations were deployed, and a roadmap is now in place considering the aggressive deployment of these DA devices,” Jojo stated. 

Despite the roadmap, however, leaders may still will want to know where they can recover the costs of these investments and when they can attain the goal of putting more renewables into the distribution system, but time is of the essence and action must be taken now to address these grid obstacles. 

“Utilities like Meralco cannot afford to wait and see. The industry is moving fast towards decarbonisation, thus we need to prepare our personnel to increase their competencies in new technologies like energy storage, solar and wind, demand response, AMI, and many more by conducting pilot and demonstration projects and putting up training facilities,” Jojo warned. 

Meralco must continue to seize opportunities by utilising new innovative tools to progress closer to a successful energy transition. Jojo’s motto revolves around: Thinking Big, Starting Small, and Learning Fast. By becoming equipped with the latest solutions and managing grid maintenance costs, it can be possible to continue to seamlessly implement new solutions and pilot technological projects. 

“I think the most pressing challenge is convincing our regulators that innovative technologies and solutions will provide more benefits to the customers and the utility as some of these benefits may be hard to quantify at first. But with actual demonstration projects, I believe we can collaborate together to learn how these new solutions will work and help in achieving our aspirations of a bright and sustainable future for the electric industry,” Jojo observed.