ILOILO City – An unscheduled power interruption yesterday hit all electricity distribution utilities in Panay and Guimaras islands.
There was a “system disturbance”, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) – the tripping of its 138kV Negros-Panay submarine cable and isolation of the Panay sub grid at 6:55 a.m.
The submarine cable was fixed by 7:19 a.m. and power transmission services were fully restored by 9:26 a.m.
As of this writing, the NGCP was still investigating the cause of the triping.
Due to supply deficiency brought about by the tripping of power plants following the isolation of the Negros-Panay submarine cable, NGCP implemented Manual Load Dropping (MLD) in Panay.
As of around 4 p.m. yesterday, the NGCP was still waiting for the synchronization of affected power plants back to the grid.
Power interruptions were also experienced in Negros Island due to the activation of NGCP’s protection system to regulate loading of the Amlan-Samboan submarine cable and maintain the stability of the grid.
Meanwhile, because of the NGCP power interruption, MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the sole power distributor in Iloilo City, resorted to rotational brownout.
As of 12:10 p.m. update, MORE Power said the transmission lines of NGCP was already cleared, however, shortage of power supply coming from the power generators were being experienced.
“Rest assured we will energize all feeders as soon as power supply is sufficient and we will be closely coordinating with NGCP for the clearance and restoration,” it said in a statement.
Since power plants were out, it usually takes sometime to start the full capacity of the power plants, hence the power shortages that we are experiencing now,” MORE Power explained.
Rotational brownout were also implemented in some areas in Iloilo province./PN
