By Alec Go
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced Thursday (June 3) that it has completed the restoration of power lines affected by tropical storm Dante.
The power transmission operations in the Visayas have normalized after the restoration of the Paranas-Borongan-Quinapondan 69kV (kilovolt) line at 8:16 p.m. on June 2.
The NGCP said it is monitoring weather disturbances and is on standby in case of possible threat to transmission facilities.
Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in the June 3 Palace briefing that all transmission lines in Samar have been reenergized on June 2.
He added that the power supply has also returned to normal or “more than sufficient to meet the projected demand today,” after both yellow and red alerts raised over the Luzon grid were lifted.
“Sa ngayon, ang peak demand that is projected is around 10,300 megawatts, and we have 11,600 megawatts to supply,” Cusi said.
The official said the rotating power interruption which also affected the Greater Manila Area in the past two days was caused by the breakdown of four big plants with a capacity of 2,017 megawatts.
“Mayroon pa rin tayong mga plantang tinitingnan dahil hindi pa rin nakakabalik sa sistema. Mayroon pa ring around 1,372 megawatts capacity na apat na planta na still down,” he said.
Cusi said preventive maintenance activities are necessary to ensure continuous plant operations. However, there have been delays in the scheduled maintenance due to the pandemic and other factors.
He said the problem is the lack of ancillary reserves which is now being addressed, saying that more plants are “under construction and ready to be commissioned.” –jlo##
