Right-of-way violations caused 44 power outages last year–NGCP

Business Mirror

Published on Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:19

Written by Lenie Lectura / Reporter

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) recorded 44 power outages or line-tripping incidents last year brought about by right-of-way (ROW) violations.

Of the total, 25 incidents, a little less than half, occurred in Mindanao alone.

The ROW violations include planting of trees within the ROW corridor, grass fires at or around its facilities, squatting and putting up of structures under the transmission lines and kite flying. 

“All of these activities can disrupt the transmission of power and cause power outages. More important, these activities damage our lines and compromise the safety of the public,” said NGCP Spokesman Cynthia P. Alabanza in a news statement issued on Tuesday.

She added that these ROW violations add costs to repairs and restoration, in addition to the cost of additional manpower and man-hours, which could have been utilized for more inspection and maintenance activities.

NGCP also warned the public on the safety hazards for ROW violators. Transmission lines are open lines that carry a minimum of 69,000 volts and a maximum of 500,000 volts. “You don’t even have to touch the lines to be electrocuted. Electricity induction may occur once the safe clearance is breached. In other words, if you get near enough, even without touching the lines, you are in danger of being electrocuted,” Alabanza said.

The transmission lines, she said, carry electricity that is more than 300 times the power of the electricity from household electricity sockets rated at 220 volts. Therefore, breaching the safety clearances can be fatal, warned Alabanza.

“At the end of the day, ROW violations affect our power-delivery service. In turn, the distribution utilities and the public at large suffer and are most affected,” said Alabanza.

NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines and towers, substations and related assets.   source