‘Glenda’ knocks down lines, hits power plants; Southern Tagalog, Bicol powerless
Workers cut an uprooted tree along a highway as Typhoon Rammasun barrels across Manila on July 16, 2014. Typhoon Rammasun shut down the Philippine capital on July 16 as authorities said the first major storm of the country’s brutal rainy season claimed at least one life and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE
MANILA, Philippines—Power transmission lines shut down in the southern parts of Luzon and in the Bicol Region during the onslaught of tropical Typhoon Glenda, the Department of Energy said Wednesday.
Much of Metro Manila was also without power Wednesday as falling trees cut power lines.
Mylene C. Capongcol, director of the DOE’s Power Industry Management Bureau, said in a text message that 17 transmission lines with 230kV capacity shut down in the Bicol Region, isolating the area from energy suppliers since Tuesday night.
“Total blackout still in Bicol and Southern Tagalog,” Capongcol said.
A 350kV HVDC line connecting Luzon with Visayas was out as well along with the 500kV Tayabas-Ilijan line. Also out were 69kV lines in Samar and Sorsogon.
The DOE was coordinating with electricity cooperatives as much as possible to assess their status amid strong winds and rain, Capongcol said.
“QPL (Quezon Power (Philippines), Limited Co.) is surely down. Ilijan, Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo advised that they will shut down if necessary. However, we also don’t have any load (demand) right now in NCR and South Luzon either because lines are down on purpose or because lines have been toppled,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in a text message.
QPL operates a 511MW coal-fired power plant. Ilijan is a natural gas-fired power plant of Kepco Ilijan Corp. in Batangas City, with a nominal capacity of 1,271MW. Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo are natural gas-fired power plants of First Gas Power Corp. in Batangas province with capacities of 1,060MW and 530MW, respectively
The National Grid Corp.’s initial power outlook for July 16 showed Luzon having 1,283 MW in gross reserves (available capacity of 8,706MW versus system peak of 7,423MW), Visayas with a deficit of 15MW (available capacity of 1,469MW versus system peak of 1,484MW), and Mindanao with gross reserves of 21MW (available capacity of 1,373 versus system peak of 1,352MW).
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