Power utilities brace for typhoon Chedeng

The weather disturbance that will hit the country’s northern and southern parts in Luzon this Holy Week is very much on the radar of power utilities so they can readily deploy crew and contingency measures when inexorable conditions take hit.

In particular, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has advised that it will be activating its “North and South Luzon regional command centers and district command centers in preparation for typhoon Chedeng.”

It is worth noting that this is already the third storm or typhoon that will pound the country – but the first two had been of milder or almost ‘unnoticed’ impacts.

NGCP said it is “implementing the necessary preparations and precautions to minimize the impact of typhoon Chedeng on power transmission operations and facilities.”

In its line-up of contingency measures are: ensuring the reliability of communications equipment, availability of hardware materials, having its standby generators, vehicles, SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) spares and supplies necessary for the repair of damage to facilities.

The company has also been positioning its linemen and helicopters in strategic areas “to facilitate immediately-needed restoration work.”

All of these preparations are lumped into the transmission firm’s Integrated Disaster Action Plan. Fundamentally, such are designed “to ensure the readiness of all power transmission facilities to be affected by the passage of weather disturbance.”

For Manila Electric Company (Meralco), on the other hand, it apprised its customers that “it is on alert and is gearing all its efforts to prepare its systems and personnel so it could immediately respond to power interruptions” at the typhoon’s whack.

According to Meralco senior vice president Alfredo S. Panlilio, who is also the company’s head of customer retail ser-

vices and corporate communications, the power utility will abide by its commitment as a 24-hour service company -- come typhoon or other weather upsets like summer heat’s impact.

“We are committed to respond to these types of emergency. Our crews are on standby to attend to any trouble that may affect our facilities in areas that might be hit by the typhoon,” he stressed.

Panlilio emphasized that the utility firm has “put in place necessary mea- sures to mitigate the possible impact of the typhoon.”

Primordial to these, he said, had been request on billboard owners and operators to temporarily roll their facilities to prevent them from falling unto electrical wires if get toppled by unruly winds.

He explained that “billboards falling into electrical facilities are among the main reasons for power outages whenever there are strong typhoons.”