Danessa
Rivera (The Philippine Star) - June 7, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines —
The implementation of much-needed maintenance works in the power distribution
network of Iloilo City caused the blackouts in the area, MORE Electric and
Power Corp. said.
MORE Power president
Roel Castro said the sorry state of the distribution system – which it took
over in Feb. 28 – prompted the company to implement maintenance works on
substations, transformers and distribution systems in the past three months,
causing outages around the city.
Castro said Iloilo
City’s former power distributor failed to implement new capital expenditures
for the last 10 years for improvements and facility upgrades.
The company’s
inspections on the substations, transformers and cables in the city revealed
alarming conditions of the distribution system. Four of the five substations
are over 90 percent loaded against the normal load of 70 to 80 percent, he
said.
The five power
substations are an integral part of the power distribution system as they
reduce voltage to a level suitable for local distribution. Apart from
stabilizing the system, substations also protect the consumers from sudden
drops or surges of electricity.
To avoid bigger damage and longer interruptions, MORE Power started the
comprehensive preventive maintenance of the substations and it needed a maximum
of 13 hours to complete the process.
The problem was
exacerbated because of the summer season which increased demand for power and
took its toll on distribution lines, many of which are undersized, and the
already overloaded transformers.
Castro said the
required maintenance works led to the longest brownout in Jaro district last
May 17 after MORE Power conducted preventive maintenance work on the Jaro
substation.
“On the part of the
substations, we have to undertake the maintenance works and implement brownouts
because if we don’t do this now, the facilities will explode, and we will
suffer from longer brownouts,” he added.
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