Repair on NGCP Tower 25 completed; regular power restored in Mindanao

by Ali G. Macabalang March 16, 2016
http://www.mb.com.ph/repair-on-ngcp-tower-25-completed-regular-power-restored-in-mindanao/

Cotabato City – Regular power service was finally restored back to normal following the completion of repair work on Tower 25 of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in Lanao del Sur, which was recently damaged by a bomb attack, the power transmission firm said yesterday.

The completion of repairs came after a local court intervened and ordered a family to stop preventing NGCP

repairmen from working on the toppled tower.

Regular power coming from Agus 1 and 2 hydropower plants was restored Monday, according to Melfrance

Capulong of NGCP-Southern Mindanao.

And because of this, Mindanao now has 93 megawatts (MW) of excess power supply, Capulong said. Tower 25, located in Ramain, Lanao del Sur, was severely damaged when unidentified men blew it up on December 24, 2015.

Since then, NGCP tried to initiate repair work on the tower but the Sambitory family, which owns the land where the structure stands, refused to let the firm’s workmen repair the tower.

It took a temporary restraining order (TRO) from a local court to keep the Sambitory family from preventing

NGCP workmen to get near Tower 25.

Capulong said the repair works started on March 5 and ended on March 14, paving the way for restoring

Agus 1 and 2 hydropower plants’ 138KV line to the Mindanao grid.

“The restoration of the facility allows the grid operator to transmit the electricity produced by state-owned Agus 1 and Agus 2 hydro power plants, with combined installed capacity of 260MW, to the rest of the Mindanao grid,” the NGCP said in a separate statement.

During the isolation of Agus 1 and 2 hydropower lines from Dec. 25, 2015 to March 14, Mindanao areas suffered an average of three to seven hours of brownouts, it was learned.

This developed as the local police in Aleosan, North Cotabato fenced off NGCP towers with bamboo fletches in a bid to keep out bombers from attacking the structures.