Gov’t rules out sabotage in Easter Sunday Mindanao blackout

MANILA, Philippines – There was no sabotage in the Mindanao grid-wide blackout that occurred early Easter Sunday, April 5, energy officials said.

In a press conference Monday, April 6, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said that there are no indications that would point to sabotage as the cause of the 7-hour power outage.

“There was no indication of sabotage. There was no indication when it was going to fail. This equipment was already 40 years old but its lifespan is 50. This was already replaced by the NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines),” Petilla said.

Mindanao experienced a similar island-wide power outage in 2014 when the power generators of the State Power Company in Misamis Oriental conked out.

The latest grid disturbance was due to a detached conductor that hit the capacitor voltage transformer (CVT). The conductor connects the CVT, a metering equipment, to the Agus switchyard. The switchyard is connected to the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power complex in Lanao del Sur.

The power facility is owned by the National Power Corporation but is maintained by the NGCP, Petilla said.

Officials from the National Transmission Corporation and the NGCP explained that there usually are no indications when electro-mechanical devices will conk out.

“The only way to make sure that this will not happen again is to replace it, and NGCP did that. Other areas are already being evaluated to prevent a repeat,” Petilla added.

A team has been formed to investigate what happened. Findings are expected on Wednesday, April 15.

“Part of the investigation is to identify which areas are not likely going to fail so this will not happen again,” he said.

Loss of power earlier occurred in the Mindanao grid at 1:01 am Easter Sunday.

Power was restored 8 am on the same day. – Rappler.com

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