MANILA, Philippines—Several areas in North Luzon may have to endure power outages lasting four to seven days due to the extensive damage wrought by super typhoon Juan on the country's transmission lines.
In a briefing on Tuesday, Cynthia Alabanza, spokesperson of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines explained that the country's transmission operator has been finding it difficult to move as quickly as it wanted to, due to bad weather and the rough terrain.
“Damage was worse than expected. For one, 11 (of the 50) towers of the Gamu-Tuguegarao 230 kilovolt (kV) were toppled,” she said.
Alabanza said that the longer power outages in Cagayan, Northern Isabela, Kalinga and Apayao were due primarily to the extensive damage on the 80-kilometer Gamu-Tuguegarao line, one of the most crucial lines in North Luzon. She stressed however that the target timeline for the repairs was just estimated and might not hold, depending on the actual damage.
Among the NGCP-owned 69 kV transmission lines damaged were the Tuguegarao – Magapit; Magapit – Sta. Ana; Tuguegarao – Tabuk; La Trinidad – Bulalacao; San Manuel-Manaoag; Bayombong-Lagawe; Bongabon – Baler; and the Bauang – Naguillan lines.
Also damaged were the Kadampat-Masinloc 230kV; San Manuel-Kadampat 500kV; Binga – San Manuel 230 kV Line 1; and the Santiago-Gamu 230 kV.
Alabanza did not cite the costs of repairing these facilities as they were still gathering data and evaluating reports from the ground.
She, however, admitted that repair and rehabilitation costs would have to be passed on to consumers, at a rate to be approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission. Under the ERC rules, events such as typhoons are considered force majeure events, the costs for which may be recovered from power consumers.
The NGCP spokesperson also said that they have started enforcing contingency plans, starting off with the deployment of personnel to monitor and evaluate the damage to the transmission lines and facilities.
“More than a hundred NGCP linemen have already been deployed as early as 6 a.m. today (Tuesday) in the affected provinces, which include Cagayan, Kalinga, Apayao, Northern Isabela, Mt. Province, Abra, and parts of Pangasinan, Nueva Viscaya, Benguet, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Nueva Ecija and Aurora,” the NGCP said.
If weather and conditions permit, Alabanza said the NGCP would start putting up their emergency restoration systems (ERS), which were prefabricated towers. A tower would consist of three sections with a length of 20 feet each.
According to Alabanza, these towers will be used and are expected to last until the permanent towers are put in place.
She added that the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives have been doing their own repair works simultaneously, to quickly restore and normalize the power situation up north.
On the bright side, Alabanza assured the public of a more stable power supply in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, as the Sual unit 1 came online on Tuesday. Power distributor Manila Electric Co., according to Alabanza, did not implement rotating brownouts in the afternoon and evening on Tuesday, as reported in the morning.
A unit of the 600-megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal fired power plant in Zambales was isolated Tuesday morning due to the tripping of the Kadampat-Masinloc 230kV line. As of Tuesday afternoon, plant personnel were still checking the facilities to determine the appropriate time to re-energize and synchronize the line back to the grid and bring in additional 310 MW.
In a briefing on Tuesday, Cynthia Alabanza, spokesperson of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines explained that the country's transmission operator has been finding it difficult to move as quickly as it wanted to, due to bad weather and the rough terrain.
“Damage was worse than expected. For one, 11 (of the 50) towers of the Gamu-Tuguegarao 230 kilovolt (kV) were toppled,” she said.
Alabanza said that the longer power outages in Cagayan, Northern Isabela, Kalinga and Apayao were due primarily to the extensive damage on the 80-kilometer Gamu-Tuguegarao line, one of the most crucial lines in North Luzon. She stressed however that the target timeline for the repairs was just estimated and might not hold, depending on the actual damage.
Among the NGCP-owned 69 kV transmission lines damaged were the Tuguegarao – Magapit; Magapit – Sta. Ana; Tuguegarao – Tabuk; La Trinidad – Bulalacao; San Manuel-Manaoag; Bayombong-Lagawe; Bongabon – Baler; and the Bauang – Naguillan lines.
Also damaged were the Kadampat-Masinloc 230kV; San Manuel-Kadampat 500kV; Binga – San Manuel 230 kV Line 1; and the Santiago-Gamu 230 kV.
Alabanza did not cite the costs of repairing these facilities as they were still gathering data and evaluating reports from the ground.
She, however, admitted that repair and rehabilitation costs would have to be passed on to consumers, at a rate to be approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission. Under the ERC rules, events such as typhoons are considered force majeure events, the costs for which may be recovered from power consumers.
The NGCP spokesperson also said that they have started enforcing contingency plans, starting off with the deployment of personnel to monitor and evaluate the damage to the transmission lines and facilities.
“More than a hundred NGCP linemen have already been deployed as early as 6 a.m. today (Tuesday) in the affected provinces, which include Cagayan, Kalinga, Apayao, Northern Isabela, Mt. Province, Abra, and parts of Pangasinan, Nueva Viscaya, Benguet, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Nueva Ecija and Aurora,” the NGCP said.
If weather and conditions permit, Alabanza said the NGCP would start putting up their emergency restoration systems (ERS), which were prefabricated towers. A tower would consist of three sections with a length of 20 feet each.
According to Alabanza, these towers will be used and are expected to last until the permanent towers are put in place.
She added that the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives have been doing their own repair works simultaneously, to quickly restore and normalize the power situation up north.
On the bright side, Alabanza assured the public of a more stable power supply in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, as the Sual unit 1 came online on Tuesday. Power distributor Manila Electric Co., according to Alabanza, did not implement rotating brownouts in the afternoon and evening on Tuesday, as reported in the morning.
A unit of the 600-megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal fired power plant in Zambales was isolated Tuesday morning due to the tripping of the Kadampat-Masinloc 230kV line. As of Tuesday afternoon, plant personnel were still checking the facilities to determine the appropriate time to re-energize and synchronize the line back to the grid and bring in additional 310 MW.
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