BACOLOD City – Massive power interruption was experienced in wide swathes of this city and neighboring localities past 12 a.m. on Tuesday, March 26.
The transmission lines of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) tripped.
Three out of four 69 kilovolt (KV) transmission lines went offline, according to Jose Taniongon, manager of Ceneco Unified Engineering, Operations and Maintenance Department.
He said minimal rain early yesterday morning triggered a breakdown of the insulator, which was supposed to protect the 69KV line from short circuit, after attracting heavy dust due to prolonged dry weather.
At 12:19 a.m. the Bacolod-Reclamation 69KV transmission line “automatically tripped due to the activation of its protective equipment”.
Among the affected areas were the Gonzaga and Reclamation feeders that supply electricity in residential and commercial areas situated near and around the city’s downtown area.
Power supply was first restored at 4:30 a.m. in several areas and a few hours later in other locations.
At 12:33 a.m., power outage hit the areas supplied by Talisay, Lopez and Panaogao feeders after the Bacolod-Silay 69KV transmission line tripped. Affected were the cities of Talisay and Silay. Power was restored less than an hour later.
The Bacolod-San Enrique 69KV transmission line of the NGCP tripped at 1:34 a.m., affecting the Ceneco substations in Barangay Sum-ag, Bacolod City, and Lag-asan in Bago City.
At 1:39 a.m., the Bacolod-Bata 69KV transmission line also went offline, causing a power outage in the northern part of this capital city covered by the Burgos and Mountain View feeders
According to the NGCP, Bacolod-Calumangan 69KV line section was energized at 3:13 a.m. and restored power in the affected areas./PN
