Another power blackout hits Western Visayas

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Another power blackout hit Western Visayas Friday afternoon, causing consternation among consumers who had to go through another day of sweltering weather.

In an advisory past 6 pm Friday, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said it monitored a system disturbance at 1:50 pm which affected the Visayas grid.

Initial findings show that a distribution utility-owned line tripped and caused power plants to disengage or disconnect from the transmission system.

“An assessment of NGCP’s facilities shows that our protection systems functioned as intended,” it added.

While the initial problem was already addressed and the power supply was restored, another system disturbance occurred at 2:56 pm.

“Initial findings show that the initiating event was the tripping of a generation facility. Similarly, an assessment of NGCP’s protection equipment shows that the transmission system functioned properly,” the firm added.

NGCP manages transmission lines that provide electricity from the power plants to distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.

The blackout again affected the services areas of MORE Power (Iloilo City), the Iloilo Electric Cooperatives I, II, and III (Iloilo province), Aklan Electric Cooperative, Antique Electric Cooperative, Guimaras Electric Cooperative, and parts of Negros Occidental.

NGCP and the power distributors also resorted to load shedding or rotating power interruptions due to low supply.

This is the third region-wide blackout to hit Western Visayas this year. The first was on February 20 and the second on April 27.