‘Power fully restored in Metro Manila by Friday’

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‘Power fully restored in Metro Manila by Friday’
(UPDATED) As of 9 am Thursday, 82% of Metro Manila has power. A 3-hour rotating brownout is being experienced in the main cities of Manila, Makati and Quezon

 

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said Thursday, July 17, they expect power to be fully restored in Metro Manila and the rest of the Meralco franchise area by 10 pm Friday, July 18.

“Metro Manila by tomorrow… early morning more or less almost a hundred percent [restored]. The entire Meralco franchise, 96% by 10 pm,” he told a press conference.

Petilla and officials of power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and power grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) gave an update on restoration efforts in the wake of Typhoon Glenda (Rammasun).

“All circuits should be up by 10 pm tomorrow, Friday,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Customer Retail Services head Al Panlilio said.

At 9 am Thursday, a day after Glenda’s ferocious winds wreaked havoc on power and transmission lines in Luzon, Panlilio said 82% of Metro Manila had power. At 11 am, Meralco tweeted that 65% of its franchise area had power. Meralco distributes electricity to over 5.3 million customers in 34 cities and 77 municipalities in Luzon.


In terms of outage, at 5 pm, Meralco said 34% of its customers were without power. Below is the breakdown.

Estimated number of customers still without power
ProvinceTotal
TotalOutagePercentage
Batangas 105,067 98,716 93.96
Bulacan 649,757 67,603 10.40
Cavite 735,926 472,618 64.22
Laguna 586,742 287,810 49.05
Metro Manila 2,554,400 434,704 17.02
Pampanga 12,042 0 0.00
Quezon 170,180 170,146 99.98
Rizal 511,069 289,323 56.61
  5,325,183 1,820,920 34.19
Note: Number of customers still out is currently varying as customer complaints are received and troubles are found in the field. Consequently, some circuits previously considered energized are now tagged with portions still without power. Source: Meralco

Due to the shortage, Meralco is implementing a 3-hour rotating brownout. Portions of Manila, Makati City, Quezon City, Pasay City and Bulacan are affected.




On Wednesday, Glenda cut power supply to 86% of Meralco’s customers, mostly in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) area and Metro Manila.

For areas outside Meralco’s franchise, Petilla said full restoration of power could be expected in two weeks. These areas include Quezon province, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon.

Meralco and NGCP are now assessing the extent of typhoon damage to their lines and facilities, he said.

“At the very earliest, (NGCP) will complete the repair of 69 kV (kilovolt) lines in two weeks,” he said.

Among the 65 kV lines that were damaged include Limay – Exemplar; Calaca – Balayan – Nasugbu/Calatagan; Bay – Los Banos; Naga – Libmana;  Naga – Lagonoy; Naga – Iriga; Bay – Calamba;  Gumaca – Hondagua – Tagkawayan; Famy – Infant;  Bay – Plant E; Daraga – Sorsogon; Daraga – Ligao; Calbayog – Catbalogan; Calbayog – Catarman – Allen; and the  Catarman – Bobolosan. NGCP said that all 69 kV lines in Sorsogon and Calaca-Taal line are still out.

Other NGCP facilities that are down include the Leyte-Luzon 350-kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC); Dasma – Ilijan 500-kV Line; San Jose – Tayabas 500-kV Line 1; Tayabas – Ilijan 500-kV Line; Tayabas-Naga 230-kV Line; Gumaca-Labo 230-kV Line; Daraga – Bacman 230-kV Line; Labo – Naga 230-kV Line; Naga – Daraga 230-kV Line; Naga – Tiwi 230-kV Line; Daraga – Tiwi 230-kV Line; Gumaca – Kalayaan 230-kV Line; Tayabas – Pagbilao 230-kV Line; Binan – Sucat 230-kV Line; and Calaca – Amadeo 230-kV Line.

The energy chief said the grid operator has yet to reconnect 55% of power capacity in Luzon.

Petilla said a number of power plants in Luzon were still offline. Some were on scheduled shutdown, while others were affected by the typhoon. These include the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan, 460-MW Quezon Power, 764-MW Pagbilao, and 1,500-MW Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants.

NGCP needs to repair transmission lines so power could be delivered from plants to distribution utilities like Meralco and electric cooperatives.

Petilla said the main transmission lines would be energized by July 19, at the earliest, and July 22, at the latest.

Glenda will exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility Thursday afternoon. At least 38 people were killed, 10 were injured and 8 remain missing due to the typhoon, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Most of the deaths were caused by fallen trees and debris. – Rappler.com

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