THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines assured electricity users of the integrity of the country’s transmission networks in the coming summer months as it ruled out a technical error in the tripping of the San Jose-San Manuel line.
National Grid said it is addressing isolated cases of disturbances to the country’s transmission network even as it ruled out technical constraints as the cause of the power outage that hit certain parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces last Saturday.
“It was an isolated incident and not a portent of any major power outage or running brownouts this summer,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez Alabanza said.
“The accident happened because of human error. Our transmission grid has no technical constraints to speak of and remains fully capable of delivering power to its customers. But accidents like grassfires happen and these are beyond our control,” Alabanza added.
The grassfire in Barangay Sumacab in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija that led to the tripping of the 500-kilovolt San Jose-San Manuel line last Saturday necessitated the shutdown of three of NGCP’s four transformer units at the San Jose Substation in Bulacan, which then led to the power outage on Saturday.
Alabanza said NGCP president and CEO Henry Sy is appealing to communities hosting transmission facilities across the country to be more vigilant in guarding and protecting high-voltage transmission lines against grassfires, especially during the summer season..
“The cause is clearly not a transmission problem or technical constraint on the part of the NGCP but a physical fault which is beyond our control,” Alabanza said. “This is an isolated incident that could have been avoided if we can all work together in helping safeguard ourtransmission lines.”
Alabanza said the expansion of the San Jose Substation’s capacity last year already effectively addressed the transmission congestion in the Luzon grid inherited from its predecessor, the National Transmission Corp.
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