Blackout hits parts of Cebu
Explosion heard at a Naga plant; power restored
Veco spokesperson Theresa Sederiosa says Veco couldn’t get supply from Leyte grid
Feeders where hospitals first to be re-energized
Kepco-SPC Power Corp. executive says ‘explosion’ was sound of the power plant tripping
POWER was suddenly lost in “considerable” parts of Metro Cebu served by Veco at 1:48 a.m. yesterday. The interruption was unscheduled and also hit areas beyond the franchise of the Visayan Electric Company (Veco).
Veco customers in the south—from Ba- rangay Pardo, Cebu City to San Fernando town—had no electricity when Veco lost connection with the Leyte grid.
In some areas in the south, voltage fluctuated.
Netizens reported that the blackout
was felt in areas beyond Pardo; one said power service was interrupted in Dumanjug town at around 2 a.m.
Veco’s franchise area is from Liloan in the north to San Fernando in the south.
“We apparently could not get supply from the power plants in the Leyte grid,” Theresa Sederiosa, Veco corporate communications manager, told Sun. Star Cebu.
The incident deprived the distribution utility firm of about 198 MW.
Cebu’s power demand is at 470 MW during peak hours, said Sederiosa, and one-third of Cebu’s supply comes from Leyte.
Situation Those who were still awake when the blackout happened took to social media to report affected areas and what the situation was like. Among the complaints posted were work stoppage because even with generator sets, Internet connection was no longer available. Some also complained about pitch-dark streets.
There were also reports of “explosions” at the Kep- co-SPC Power Corp. power plant in the City of Naga.
Kepco corrected this yesterday, saying it wasn’t an explosion.
What residents in the area heard was the sound of the power plant tripping due to line isolation from the NGCP. This is done to prevent issues in the grid from spreading.
Power back As of 3:50 a.m., Sederiosa said Veco had restored 74 MW and first re-energized feeders in areas where hospitals are.
They also resorted to island restoration mode-load transfers, or getting supply from power plants within Cebu, to gradually restore service.
In an advisory released at 11 a.m., Veco said all affected feeders were energized by 6:23 a.m.
Sederiosa said they are coordinating with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to determine the cause of the power interruption.
The NGCP, in a statement issued also at 11 a.m., said it completely restored power transmission services in the Visayas grid at 9:09 a.m. It also said power services in Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar islands were interrupted.
‘Not a bomb’ When asked about rumors that a bomb caused the power supply interruption, NGCP corporate communications manager Ma. Rosette Belcina Martinez said: “The root cause of the outage is still being investigated but no word, though, about a bombing.”
Veco’s Sederiosa could not say yet if, pending the investigation, there will be intermittent power interruptions.
In their statement, Veco asked customers “to be prudent in the use of electricity, conserve wherever possible.”
Although she had no data at press time because of the holiday, Sederiosa said the total capacity of Cebu’s power plants is not enough to supply the entire province’s total power needs.
She cited the rotational power outages that occurred after typhoon Yolanda battered Leyte and destroyed the geothermal plants.