Saturday, October 31, 2009

Meralco, NGCP begin restoring power lines damaged by Santi 10/31/2009 | 02:29 PM

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Saturday began restoring power transmission lines in Metro Manila and southern Luzon damaged by Typhoon Santi.
People scramble to salvage scrap wires from electric posts that were toppled over by Santi in Navotas City on Saturday. Danny Pata

A total of 265 circuits, or 39 percent of the company’s customers, suffered power outages in Metro Manila, the Meralco said.

According to the NGCP, the brownouts in Metro Manila were primarily caused by the shutting down of two transformer units in its Sucat substation in Paranaque City, which experienced flooding due to the rains brought by the typhoon.

Several other transmission lines in Metro Manila and southern Luzon tripped due to winds caused by the Santi, which cut the power supply of half of NGCP’s Luzon grid on Saturday.

Meralco and NGCP however assured their customers that they have already mobilized their personnel for power restoration activities.

Typhoon Santi, which brought incessant rains and strong winds to the country starting late Friday, caused floods and massive power outages in different parts of Metro Manila and southern Luzon. [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/176008/santi-causes-floods-brownouts-in-metro-manila-luzon]

The power outages in Metro Manila also halted the operation of the Light Rail Transit Line 1, which runs through Caloocan City to Baclaran in Pasay City on early Saturday. [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/176006/santi-disrupts-lrt-1-operations]

Santi is the nineteenth weather disturbance to enter the Philippines this year, and the fourth cyclone to hit the country this month. - GMANews.TV

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Transformer blast cuts power in parts of NCR and Rizal

Parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province suffered a power outage late Wednesday evening after an explosion shut down a power transformer of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in Dolores, Taytay, Rizal province.

Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) Dina Lomotan told radio dzBB that as a result, power to nine Meralco substations have been cut, affecting the cities of Marikina, Pasig, San Juan, and parts of Quezon City in Metro Manila, including Meralco Center, and the towns of Binangonan, Taytay, Angono, Cainta and Antipolo in Rizal province.

Lomotan did not say how long the outage will last, but assured that they are working double-time to restore power the soonest time. (As of 10:00 pm, power has reportedly been restored in some affected service areas.)

A Taytay police officer interviewed over radio dzBB as of posting said that firefighters are still battling a fire caused by the explosion, which occurred about 8:45 p.m.

Faye de Jesus of the NGCP confirmed that their transformer in Dolores encountered a "technical problem," but declined to confirm if it was caused by an explosion.

De Jesus explained that the NGCP is still assessing the cause of the power outage.

Meralco’s Lomotan expressed fears that if the NGCP fails to solve the problem immediately, Metro Manila would have to endure a series of “rotating brownouts."

“I don't how long they will be able to fix that. The worst-case scenario is (that we might have a rotation of) brownouts. Pero sisikapin namin kung saan tayo pwedeng mag-ipon, pagsisikapan namin (But we will try to supply in places where we can)," Lomotan said.

The power outage comes at a time when Marikina, Pasig and adjacent towns have been suffering power blackouts and spotty restoration in the past two weeks due to persistent floods left by storm “Ondoy." – Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/174062/transformer-blast-cuts-power-in-parts-of-ncr-and-rizal