Brownouts to continue even with repair of damaged lines

Even though damaged power lines have been repaired, provinces in Luzon and some areas in Metro Manila will continue to experience brownouts in the coming days due to limited power supply, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

 

In a report aired on GMA News' “24 Oras” Thursday evening, the DOE said that five powerplants in Southern Luzon went offline on Tuesday as part of the safety measures amid the typhoon that hit the region. The DOE said this affected the supply in the Luzon Grid.

 

The Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo powerplants in Batangas, which normally supply more than 1000 megawatts of electricity to Luzon Grid, remain unoperational after getting affected by floods, the report said.

 

National Grid Corporation of the Philippine (NGCP) Systems Operations for Luzon head Raul Seludo said rotating brownouts could have been avoided if the two power plants were in operation.

 

“Sana naiwasan natin na magkaroon ng rotating brownout today, kasi as we could see, the expected generation from these two plants are enough to cover yung mga loads that is online today,” Seludo said.

 

According to the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), it was short by more than 500 megawatts of supply Thursday. This prompted the company to implement a three-hour emergency rotating brownouts in some parts of Manila, Makati, Quezon City, Bulacan and Pasay City.

 

“Kasi kulang (ang supply) so ang ginagawa ng network namin, yung capacity iniikot namin...So we will have rotating brownouts,” said Meralco Corporate Communications head Alfred Panlilio.

 

The Meralco said that as of Thursday, power has been restored to 81 percent of Metro Manila has been restored.

 

Meralco, however, said that power has been restored in 64 percent of its total franchise area. The remaining 34 percent that have yet to have electricity is mostly in Southern Luzon.

 

The Meralco said it aims to restore power of 96 percent of its franchise area or more than 5 million customers by 10 p.m. Friday.

 

Meanwhile, according to the record of the DOE, aside from several areas in Metro Manila, provinces in Luzon such as Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan,Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Quezon, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Rizal are also experiencing brownouts.

 

The DOE said that though some plants in Southern Luzon will start transmitting power to Luzon Grid tomorrow, it may take about two weeks to completely restore power in all the affected areas. 

 

“For those people na naiirita na kasi walang kuryente, hindi lang po kayo, pati kami. We can assure you that the people working here knows your feeling and we will try to put back electricity as soon as we can,” Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said. —Elizabeth Marcelo/NB/JDS, GMA News