Business Mirror
Posted on May 08, 2013 11:18:38 PM
PARTS OF LUZON, particularly Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, were left without power yesterday afternoon after a transmission line malfunction, raising concerns ahead of Monday’s automated elections.
"[A]round 2:00 p.m., we had a line tripping and it affected major power plants totaling 3,700 megawatts (MW)," Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla told reporters in a briefing.
The transmission problem, he said, affected the 1,200-MW Ilijan, 1,000-MW Sta. Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, 460-MW Quezon and the 1,218-MW Sual power plants.
Mr. Petilla clarified that Ilijan, Sual and Quezon were not entirely affected, tagging their lost power, respectively, at 600 MW, 647 MW and 208 MW.
He added that the remaining deficiency was due to scheduled maintenance at other power facilities, not the line fault.
The affected capacity, said Mr. Petilla, represented some 45% of peak Luzon demand of 8,300 MW.
"The problem is more of the lines. The plants are ready to get back to action but we had to isolate what caused the tripping," he said.
The unexpected blackout fueled concerns of adequate power for the May 13 elections, but the government yesterday said electricity for the automated counting machines would not be a problem.
"The President (Benigno S. C. Aquino III) was assured that there is adequate power for election day and every step is being taken to ensure electricity supply," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail F. Valte said in a text message.
Mr. Petilla said, "The likelihood of five power plants bogging down is extremely unlikely. It’s the lines that caused the brownouts, not the power plants."
Mylene C. Capongol, director of the Energy department’s Electric Industry Management Bureau, said initial reports from National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) pointed to the problem having started at the Ilijan facility.
"There was line tripping; the electricity did not flow in the line. The cause of that we don’t know yet. But what happened was that the load of that transmission line was transferred to the other power plants. It cascaded, which caused overloading," she said.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said the blackout affected portions of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna. Power had yet to be fully restored as of late afternoon yesterday. The outage, among others, affected operations of the metropolis’ light railways.
"We are slowly restoring power. Whenever supply comes in, we dispatch that immediately," Meralco spokesperson Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia P. Alabanza told reporters the company "was restoring power in a relatively quick time."
"It could be restored within tonight (Wednesday). That’s a conservative estimate," she claimed.
Ms. Alabanza said the NGCP was still identifying the cause of the line tripping, stressing that the priority was restoring power.
"We are still investigating before we release a definitive statement on the actual cause," she said. -- C. M. C. Feliciano source
The transmission problem, he said, affected the 1,200-MW Ilijan, 1,000-MW Sta. Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, 460-MW Quezon and the 1,218-MW Sual power plants.
Mr. Petilla clarified that Ilijan, Sual and Quezon were not entirely affected, tagging their lost power, respectively, at 600 MW, 647 MW and 208 MW.
He added that the remaining deficiency was due to scheduled maintenance at other power facilities, not the line fault.
The affected capacity, said Mr. Petilla, represented some 45% of peak Luzon demand of 8,300 MW.
"The problem is more of the lines. The plants are ready to get back to action but we had to isolate what caused the tripping," he said.
The unexpected blackout fueled concerns of adequate power for the May 13 elections, but the government yesterday said electricity for the automated counting machines would not be a problem.
"The President (Benigno S. C. Aquino III) was assured that there is adequate power for election day and every step is being taken to ensure electricity supply," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail F. Valte said in a text message.
Mr. Petilla said, "The likelihood of five power plants bogging down is extremely unlikely. It’s the lines that caused the brownouts, not the power plants."
Mylene C. Capongol, director of the Energy department’s Electric Industry Management Bureau, said initial reports from National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) pointed to the problem having started at the Ilijan facility.
"There was line tripping; the electricity did not flow in the line. The cause of that we don’t know yet. But what happened was that the load of that transmission line was transferred to the other power plants. It cascaded, which caused overloading," she said.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said the blackout affected portions of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna. Power had yet to be fully restored as of late afternoon yesterday. The outage, among others, affected operations of the metropolis’ light railways.
"We are slowly restoring power. Whenever supply comes in, we dispatch that immediately," Meralco spokesperson Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia P. Alabanza told reporters the company "was restoring power in a relatively quick time."
"It could be restored within tonight (Wednesday). That’s a conservative estimate," she claimed.
Ms. Alabanza said the NGCP was still identifying the cause of the line tripping, stressing that the priority was restoring power.
"We are still investigating before we release a definitive statement on the actual cause," she said. -- C. M. C. Feliciano source
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