THE Department of Energy said that the recent power tripping at the transmission line in Masinloc that resulted to outages of electric supply in Metro Manila and nearby provinces was due to the intense rains and lightning in the area.
Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevarra said in a hybrid press briefing that based on the initial report of the National Grid Corporation showed that the tripping of the Bolo-Masinloc 230 kV Line 2 which led to the tripping of Masinloc Units 1&2 (618 MW), the NGCP put the Luzon Grid under red alert was due to the lightning that struck the transmission line.
“The initial explanation is that they had was there were heavy rains and lightning in that area the transmission line was hit,” Guevarra said.
According to the DOE, up to now the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan Power plants is still awaiting the resumption of operations. It could help with the power supply in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
They also revealed transmission projects in Cebu, Negros, Panay and Mindanao Visayas.
“The recent prolonged power outages in Panay and Negros, and the power interruption experienced yesterday have been traced principally to inadequacies in the transmission system.
We call on everyone’s cooperation in the completion of these projects and the identification of other critical transmission projects that need upgrading or rehabilitation,” Sec. Rapahel Lotilla for his part said.
On Monday, some 300,000 households were affected by power interruptions that lasted as much as two hours, the Manila Electric Company said.
According to Meralco, among the affected areas in Metro Manila were: Las Piñas, Makati, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Pasig, Quezon City, and Taguig.
There were also power interruptions in the Province of Rizal: Angono, Antipolo, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, and Taytay.
While in Cavite, it was recorded in Bacoor, Dasmarinas, and Imus.
The Department of Energy said that the transmission line in Masinloc had a problem due to the ‘load balancing.’
This reportedly resulted in the plant outage in Masinloc.
In a statement, Meralco said that the NGCP declared on May 8, Red Alert from 1 pm to 4 pm and 6 pm to 8 pm; and Yellow Alert from 4 pm to 6 pm.
“As a result, we are implementing manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating power interruptions of up to 2 hours in parts of the Meralco franchise area as instructed by the NGCP and as part of our responsibility to manage the system,” Meralco said.
Meralco said they also advised Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants for possible de-loading from the grid to help ease the situation.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to implement additional measures if needed,” they added.
Catherine R. Cueto
