THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said it is currently repairing one of its 138 kilovolts (kV) high voltage submarine cables that was damaged during the dredging and re-channeling activities undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) along Bio-os River in Barangay Jagna, Amlan, Negros Oriental last June 15.
The cable, which interconnects Negros and Cebu, has two circuits of 138kV submarine cable with 90 megawatts (MW) capacity each, or a total capacity of 180MW.
Because of the damage to one of the two circuits, transmission capacity is currently limited to 90MW between the two islands and an oil spill in the area.
The NGCP, in a statement Wednesday, July 7, said its System Integrity Protection Scheme (Sips) was automatically activated after the incident to isolate the affected circuit and prevent overloading of the remaining cable.
Initial reports received by the NGCP indicated that a contributing factor to the incident was the deviation on the agreed work site by the DPWH.
The transmission utility has requested the local government of Amlan and the DPWH to temporarily stop their operations. It immediately implemented measures to contain the oil spill.
"It is unfortunate that this happened at such a crucial time when electricity is critical to Covid-19 response efforts," the firm said, adding that "the NGCP assures its stakeholders that all hands are on deck to restore the affected facility and mitigate the impacts of the oil spill and scattered cable debris."
The extent of the damage was fully assessed on June 23 and 24.
Coordination is ongoing with partner-foreign technical experts for the commencement of actual repair activities, it also said.