TAGBILARAN CITY — One Bohol Power, a group composed of local power distributors, averted a Bohol-wide blackout last Saturday by rationing out electricity to some parts of the province through Power Barge 104 docked at Tapal Wharf in Ubay town.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has scheduled an 11-hour power shutdown from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. last Saturday to undertake the annual preventive maintenance of its 138-kilovolt (KV) submarine cable from Maasin, Leyte to Ubay, its 100-megavolt amp (MVA) transformers in Ubay and Corella, and 15-MVA shunt reactor, as well as the integrity testing of its fault clearance system.
In the light of the shutdown, One Bohol Power decided to ration out the available supply from Power Barge 104 to spare some of their consumers from the 11-hour blackout over the weekend.
Reinerio Tumabang, representing Bohol Electric Cooperative I (Boheco I) in One Bohol Power, said Sunday One Bohol Power was conceptualized to help the province address its power supply problems.
Tumabang said they did not actually rely solely on the supply from the power barge as they also tapped power from some of the small power-generating plants in Bohol.
The Dampas Diesel Power Plant in Tagbilaran and the hydro power plants in Hanopol, Sevilla, and Loboc also supplied electricity while the NGCP was undertaking maintenance work on the Leyte-Bohol interconnection for 11 hours Saturday.
With the rationing, Tumabang said the 11-hour power service interruption was only experienced in areas covered by the Maasin-Ubay cable line.
The power rationing was made possible through the Ubay Sub-Station Tapal 69-KV Tie-Line and Power Barge 104, with the assistance of the NGCP, Salcon Power Corporation, Boheco I and Boheco II, and Bohol Light Company Inc. (BLCI).
The NGCP originally set the 11-hour blackout at 5 a.m-6 p.m. but moved it to 4 a.m.-3 p.m. upon the request of some local government units that have scheduled nightly activities in connection with their respective fiesta celebrations.
Power supply was restored in the entire Bohol province at 3 p.m. Saturday as scheduled.
On October 4, the NGCP also held maintenance repair on its 69-KV Corella-Catigbian-Tubigon line that affected the Boheco I Macaas Substation and caused two one-hour power service interruptions in the early morning and in the afternoon of that day.
Bohol also had a bit of a scare on Oct. 2 last week when the whole province was plunged into total darkness for about 13 minutes, from 6:13 to 6:26 p.m., after the 138KV Maasin-Ubay submarine cable tripped off. (Luel Galarpe/Angeline Valencia/PNA)
