|
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Earthquake triggers Visayas-wide blackout
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
With Elias O. Baquero & Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- A mild earthquake in Leyte island brought the island's power plants to a "protection shutdown," causing a blackout in the entire Visayas Wednesday.
Areas served by the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) had their power brought back about 6 p.m. Wednesday, with Mandaue City as the last to have its electricity fully restored.
The blackout caused some offices and business establishments in Cebu to close for the rest of the day.
Some firms at the Mactan Economic Zone lost millions of pesos after they had to shut down operations, said Porferio Montesclaros of the group of exporters and manufacturers in the zone.
However, the cost of the disruption of work and commercial activities in the Visayas has yet to be assessed.
Power was cut off in about 75 percent of the Visayas regions, affecting large areas of Leyte, Samar, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, and Panay, Jules Alcantara, vice president for Visayas-Mindanao operations of Transco.
No injuries were reported but for those in Leyte, the tremor sent some residents scampering for safety, fearing a landslide similar to the one that buried an entire barangay last February.
The relatively mild quake, measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, struck the island of Leyte at 10:02 a.m., the seismology office in Manila said, triggering a chain reaction of power generation units shutting down.
One transmission tower in Ormoc City was toppled, said National Transmission Corp. (Transco) president Alan Ortiz.
The blackout showed that Cebu is vulnerable because its power supply comes from Leyte and is transmitted by submarine cable, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia noted.
She is encouraging more independent power producers to invest in Cebu.
"We must be very serious in encouraging investors to put up power plants here in our island where we have greater control," Garcia said.
Although power supply was stabilized at 6:15 Wednesday night, Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said concerned government officials have to review the events that led to the blackout and its effects to determine how well Cebu can cope with a similar or even a worse occurrence in the future.
Jakosalem, chairman of the council's committee on energy, said the incident also served as a wake-up call for Cebuanos since it demonstrated the volatility of Cebu's energy sources.
"It was a relatively weak earthquake. What more if a stronger one happens? Not many knew, until today, how dependent we are on power generated by sources outside Cebu," he said.
National Power Corp. (Napocor) said the Visayas lost an estimated 300-megawatt (MW) power supply from the Leyte Geothermal Power Plant and Leyte A, a group of plants operated by independent power producer, California Energy, when the earthquake struck.
Mosses Red, Napocor Visayas in-charge of loads and dispatches, said the trip-off caused a "domino effect," resulting in an overloading of other power plants in the Visayas grid. They were forced to undergo a protection shutdown at past 10 a.m.
The entire Cebu was consuming a total of 400 MWs when the shutdown occurred. Veco reported the restoration of power in its Banilad and Calamba feeders at noontime yesterday, ending the two-hour brownouts in Barangay Banilad, Nivel Hills area, Barangay Lahug, Barangay Mabolo, B. Rodriguez St. and V. Rama Ave. and some neighboring mountain barangays.
To continue operating, Transco-Visayas located in Cabancalan, Mandaue City also supplied power to Veco's Cabancalan substation, bringing electricity to some residents in Mandaue and Barangay Talamban in Cebu City as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Veco spokesperson Ethel Natera said.
The Leyte power plants supply 360 MWs to the islands of Cebu, Negros and Panay and 40MWs to 45MWs in Bohol by submarine cables through the Leyte Interconnection Project.
Natera said Veco's entire franchise area immediately experienced a power outage after the quake shook Leyte.
Raul Estrelloso of Salcon Power Corp. said its Cebu Thermal Power Plant (CTPP) 2 and Cebu Diesel Power Plant 2 in Naga, Cebu tripped off.
However, the diesel plant operated again at noon, while the CTPP 2, which supplies about 55 MWs to Cebu, is expected to function three to four hours later.
Cebu Private Power Corp. (CPPC) general manager Roger Lim, for his part, also confirmed that the firm immediately continued supplying power to Veco only after a brief tripoff. CPPC provides 25 percent of Veco's power supply.
Red of Napocor Visayas said that with the capability of the Palimpinon Geothermal Power Plant 1 in Oriental Negros to start up after the shutdown, power was immediately sent to Compostela in Cebu, then to Leyte.
The interconnection project allows power to be sent in reverse, Red explained. (With reports from MBG/LCR/JBN of Sun.Star Cebu)
(May 11, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
