Meralco: 4.5M customers affected by power outages; restoration to take some time

By Riza T. Olchondra 
Philippine Daily Inquirer 11:15 pm | Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

MANILA, Philippines—Up to 4.5 million people in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces had their supply of electricity knocked off by the passage of Typhoon Glenda overnight and the Manila Electric Company said Wednesday full restoration of power would take some time.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Meralco said, firm estimates showed that outages due to disrupted power transmission affected 86 percent of its franchise area, particularly the eastern and southern parts. That translates to about 4.5 million people in Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite and Quezon provinces as well as major portions of Rizal province (Binangonan, Morong, Tanay, Pililia and Jala-jala), Batangas and Cavite.
Meralco earlier gave a “broad” estimate that 90 percent of its franchise area, equivalent to about 5.3 million people, was without electricity.
The first power interruptions in the Meralco frnachise area were reported as early as 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the outages increasing as the typhoon came nearer. But nearly 24 hours after the first power interruptions were reported, Meralco had not estimates as to when power would be fully restored to its customers.
The Department of Energy reported earlier that the Bicol and Southern Tagalog regions were also without power, but it gave no estimates of the number of households affected or any indication as to when power would be restored.
Meralco confirmed confirmed earlier reports that the transmission lines of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) in the Southern Luzon grid remained down.
“Due to said outages of vital NGCP transmission lines, generation plants in the South are unable to deliver power to Meralco,” the country’s largest distribution utility said.
As to when power would be restored, Meralco said it was still assessing the extent of the damage to its distribution facilities, including poles, transformers, wires, and subtransmission lines.
Based on coordination with the NGCP, Meralco reported that the NGCP was also currently the extent of the damage to its transmission facilities.
Meanwhile, the Bicol region was still without power. Transmission lines conveying power to Bicol from energy suppliers in Luzon were knocked down Tuesday night.
Mylene C. Capongcol, director of the DOE’s Power Industry Management Bureau, said in a text message earlier Wednesday that 17 transmission lines with 230kV capacity shut down in the Bicol region, isolating the area from energy suppliers since Tuesday night.
“Total blackout still in Bicol and Southern Tagalog,” Capongcol said.
A 350kV HVDC line connecting Luzon with Visayas was out as well along with the 500kV Tayabas-Ilijan line. Also out were 69kV lines in Samar and Sorsogon.
The DOE was coordinating with electricity cooperatives as much as possible to assess their status amid strong winds and rain, Capongcol said.
“QPL (Quezon Power (Philippines), Limited Co.) is surely down. Ilijan, Sta. Rita, and San Lorenzo advised that they will shut down if necessary. However we also don’t have any load (demand) right now in NCR and South Luzon either because lines are down on purpose or because lines have been toppled,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in a text message.
QPL operates a 511MW coal-fired power plant. Ilijan is a natural gas-fired power plant of Kepco Ilijan Corp. in Batangas City, with a nominal capacity of 1,271MW. Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo are natural gas-fired power plants of First Gas Power Corp. in Batangas province with capacities of 1,060MW and 530MW, respectively
The National Grid Corp.’s initial power outlook for July 16 showed Luzon having 1,283 MW in gross reserves (available capacity of 8,706MW versus system peak of 7,423MW), Visayas with a deficit of 15MW (available capacity of 1,469MW versus system peak of 1,484MW), and Mindanao with gross reserves of 21MW (available capacity of 1,373 versus system peak of 1,352MW). source