Millions without electricity

Catherine Talavera (The Philippine Star) - November 13, 2020 - 12:00am
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/11/13/2056615/millions-without-electricity

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is working to bring back electricity to millions of customers affected by Typhoon Ulysses, emphasizing that it can only restore power in areas that are deemed safe.

“We are currently restoring power in areas where we can bring power back, but in some flooded communities, there are customers that still have no electricity [and] that continues to pose a challenge to us,” Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said in a virtual press conference yesterday.

Data from Meralco as of noon yesterday showed that there were a total of 1.9 million affected customers, a bulk of which (760,477) are in Metro Manila.

Other affected Meralco consumers were in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon and Batangas.

“We will not restore power in the areas that we deem may be very dangerous, both on the part of our line personnel and that of our customers as well,” Zaldarriaga said.

Earlier in the day at 5 a.m., 3.8 million were reported without power.

“We hope to provide some improvements as the day goes by and as we progress in our restoration efforts,” the spokesman said.

He said it is difficult to give a target date for full restoration of electric service, but assured most of the affected customers that electricity would be back today.

The Department of Energy reported 13 power generation facilities in the Luzon grid, which accounts for 4,231.8 megawatts (MW), were adversely affected by the typhoon.

At noon yesterday, only 306.9 MW had been restored – the San Lorenzo Unit 60 and Makban Units 4 and 11. A total of 3,803.8 MW remained shut down, while 121.1 MW was undergoing restoration.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi assured the public that the entire energy sector has been working diligently to immediately restore energy services in the severely battered areas of Central and Southern Luzon.

Cusi said the DOE-led Task Force on Energy Resiliency met a day before to harmonize the energy industry’s disaster preparedness and response protocols and coordinated the same with local government units in anticipation of Ulysses’ onslaught.

“We commend the exemplary response of our power generation, transmission and distribution sectors, as well as our oil players,” he said, adding that they were working round-the-clock.

Cusi said he had instructed the National Power Corp. to prioritize the safety of people should there be a need to implement dam spillage operations.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said 19 69-kilovolt lines, 11 230-kV lines, one 115-kv line and one 500-kv line were unavailable as Ulysses barreled across Luzon.

“Inspection and restoration of lines in the affected areas will be in full swing as soon as the weather allows,” the NGCP said. “Please note that loss of power may be caused by affected transmission facilities of NGCP or distribution facilities of local distribution utilities or electric cooperatives.”

Cusi said he had directed the task force to mobilize emergency teams to deploy generation sets to power up vital infrastructure in severely battered areas.

Meanwhile, in a separate advisory, Meralco said its Third Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) is extending the deadline for the expression of interest for the bid for the 1,800-megawatt contract capacity for 2024-2025, due to the effects brought by Ulysses.

The TPBAC said the deadline is extended by 24 hours from the original date of Nov. 12 to Nov. 13.

The winning bidders for the contracts will secure a 20-year power supply agreement with Meralco. The opening of bids is scheduled in January 2021.