Saturday, April 12, 2008 Brownout hits northern metro, Bulacan
NORTHERN part of Metro Manila suffered a two-hour brownout Friday after the transmission facility of National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) in Sta. Mesa, Manila was damaged.
In a statement, TransCo said power supply has been however fully restored at 11 a.m. Friday in the areas affected by the tripping of its Sucat-Araneta transmission line before 9 a.m.
The power firm reported that a tower crane of an ongoing construction near SM Centerpoint in Sta. Mesa, Manila caused the tripping at 8:41 a.m.
The tripping affected the franchise areas of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) that include Quezon City, Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) area, and parts of Bulacan and Manila.
The tripping resulted in the automatic shutdown of Limay A Combined-Cycle, Calaca Coal-fired, Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. (QPPL) and Pagbilao coal-fired power plants.
At 12 noon, the Sucat-Araneta line was also re-energized.
For its part, Meralco said among the affected areas were Balintawak, Araneta, Sta. Mesa, North Port, Tutuban, Tegen, Grace Park, Kamuning, Diliman, Novaliches, Kaybiga, Bagbaguin, Malinta, Malabon and Bocaue substations.
Meralco vice president for corporate communications Elpi Cuna admitted that the substations affected serve a large part of the northern portion of Meralco's franchise area including parts of the cities of Manila and Makati.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has directed TransCo president Arthur Aguilar to coordinate closely with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and local government units (LGUs) to set safety nets on construction near transmission lines.
"This way, LGUs will be able to notify TransCo of construction activities in the urban areas particularly those that will be near the transmission facilities," he said.
At the same time, TransCo was directed to inspect and monitor the construction firms of necessary safety measures.
While power supply has been restored, Reyes said the power interruption should have been prevented had the necessary measures were put in place.
Reyes also said they will check if the construction firm will be held liable for the damages caused by the almost two-hour power outage.
"We will have to look into that. We need to determine if the construction company will be liable for the damages," he said.
A similar incident happened in previous years when a dump truck hit a transmission line post of TransCo, which also caused blackout in most part of Luzon.
On the other hand, Cuna advised the public and construction owners to be extra careful since construction activities usually happened during the summer months.
"This unfortunate incident should serve as a reminder to those in the construction industry, most especially those involved in the day to day operations, to keep in mind that their actions may result in grave consequences such as what transpired this morning (Friday)," Cuna said.
He added that "in order to minimize accidents, construction personnel must simply adhere to basic safety precautions. They should keep a very safe distance from our line facilities while working."
At the same time, Cuna noted that Meralco is in constant coordination with local building officials, including affiliate organizations, to further boost its construction safety information drive.
Meralco, Cuna said, would study on what options to take against the owner of the construction company that caused the incident. (MSN/Sunnex)
