Pac On Substation cost 1.4 billion patacas
Power utility CEM said in a statement yesterday that its so far largest local substation – Pac On Substation – and its 3rd Guangdong-Macau Interconnection, which was jointly constructed by CEM and China Southern Power Grid (CSG), will be put into operation tomorrow.
According to the statement, the new Pac On Substation is CEM’s first 220kV substation and the first one to adopt the one-and-half breaker connection mode, which significantly enhances the reliability of the power supply and the flexibility of operation and dispatch. For every enclosed circuit, the statement added, three breakers are connected to two busbars and two feeders, with each feeder provided with two breakers.
A busbar is an electrical conductor that carries a large current, especially one that is part of a power distribution system.
Consequently, the statement pointed out, a faulty busbar can be quickly isolated or a failed breaker can be suspended without causing any outgoing line outage.
River Leng Sio Ho, senior manager of CEM’s Primary Substation Construction Unit of the Transmission and Distribution Department, said yesterday during a media tour of the Pac On Substation that after the energisation with the one-and-half breaker connection mode, the power supply capacity of the whole power grid in Macau will be increased by 55 percent, enabling the local power grid to be stronger and more reliable.
The Pac On Substation is connected with Yandun Substation in Hengqin, Leng noted.
According to Leng, the Pac On Substation, which is a key project under the Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Framework Agreement and an important infrastructure linking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), is connected to 13 sets of high-voltage cables, with a total length of 71 kilometres of indoor low-voltage cables.
Evan Liu Xiaoju, director of CEM’s Power and Networks Dispatch Department, said that in retrospect Typhoon Hato in 2017 had a “certain impact” on Macau’s power supply. However, he pointed out that thanks to the Pac On Substation, if one interconnection fails due to extreme weather conditions, the other two interconnections can now also meet Macau’s basic power needs.
Meanwhile, Leng told the media after the visit that nowadays 90 percent of the electricity consumed in Macau comes from the mainland, while about 10 percent is being generated by CEM as backup and, therefore, “in the case of electricity failure from the mainland side, our generators can come into action very quickly to provide the power to our system, probably covering about 10 percent of the local electricity capacity.”
According to yesterday’s statement by Macau’s electricity utility, the Pac On Substation project cost about 1.4 billion patacas.
River Leng Sio Ho, senior manager of CEM’s Primary Substation Construction Unit of the Transmission and Distribution Department, talks to reporters yesterday at Pac On Substation’s control room in Taipa. – Photo: Yuki Lei
