NGCP power lines (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has warned of another power outage in Panay, citing unresolved issues in major power plants supplying electricity to the area.
Its advisory followed the unscheduled manual load dropping (MLD) that resulted in a power outage in Negros and Panay sub-grid on Wednesday night.
“Following DOE (Department of Energy) and ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) instructions, another MLD may be implemented in the event of the tripping of another large plant in the Panay sub-grid,” the NGCP said in a statement.
READ: Panay blackout takes toll on locals, business
According to NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza, unresolved issues in the other three major power plants supplying electricity to Panay which caused a major power outage on the island on Jan. 2 may again bring about another rotational brownout.
“Hindi natin masasabi iyan dahil nakasalalay ‘yan sa mga planta,” Alabanza said over radio DWPM when asked if brownouts are still expected in the area on Thursday.
(We cannot say for sure because it depends on the power plants.)
“Kaya kami nagkaroon ng abiso kahapon kasi maraming nagsasabi na ihanda namin ang publiko kung sakaling mangyari ‘yun kaya nagbibigay na kami ng abiso ng ganito kaaga na kung sakaling may mangyari ulit ay baka pwede kaming mag-resort sa manual load dropping,” she added.
(That’s why we had an advisory yesterday; many people were telling us to prepare the public for any eventuality, so we made an early advisory that we could resort to manual load dropping in case something happens.)
A brownout occurred in Negros and Panay sub-grid at 6:48 p.m. on Wednesday after an unplanned MLD in the Panay Energy Development Corporation Unit 3 at 6:44 p.m. that day.
“In order to preserve the integrity of the transmission system, NGCP implemented manual load dropping,” the NGCP explained.
The power supply to affected electric cooperatives and distribution utilities was restored at 7:07 p.m. on Wednesday.