Power outages in Negros, Panay due to quake

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Negros, Cebu and Panay islands may suffer occasional power interruption due to supply deficiency caused by the outage of power plants in Leyte, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

In an advisory as of 6 a.m. yesterday, NGCP said there was no significant development since its last advisory issued at 2 a.m. and it is still assessing the extent of the damage caused by the tremor, which also resulted in power blackouts in Samar, Bohol, Southern Leyte and Leyte provinces.

NGCP's Cebu-Leyte submarine cable, and its Tabango Substation in Leyte continue to transmit power to LEYECO V, serving the municipalities of Tabango, San Isidro, and Villaba. As of 10 a.m. yesterday, NGCP was  conducting aerial and ground inspections to assess areas affected by the earthquake.

Ormoc HVDC and Ormoc Substation sustained damage. A tower along the 138kV Ormoc-Tongonan Line was found leaning. NGCP has also mobilized six line gangs to temporarily restore the Ormoc-Tongonan Line, the advisory said.

Another line gang was sent to Kananga Switchyard, owned by Energy Development Corporation (EDC), to assist in restoration and assess possible ways of extending power from the Tabango Substation to Ormoc Substation. NGCP assured the public it is continuously monitoring the situation and will provide more updates.

Meanwhile, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is still conducting an assessment to determine the extent of damage to its geothermal power plant in Leyte.

A statement from Richard Tantoco, EDC's president and chief operating officer, said "initial reports from our Leyte plant have all employees accounted for, with some reporting minor injuries."

He added: "We are aware or news reports of plant damage and are currently awaiting further assessments on the state of our physical assets to determine the exact nature of any damage to our plants."

EDC, the country's premier geothermal power leader, operates the Kananga and Tongonan, Ormoc power plants in Leyte with a combined total capacity of 701MW.

It also operates the Palinpinon plants in Valencia, Negros Oriental that produces more than 200MW of geothermal power serving Negros and other parts of the Visayas. (FREEMAN)