LAST week’s onslaught of Tropical Storm “Paeng” on “I Am Iloilo City” was short of devastating but it really tested the determination of Nong Moroy’s crew, the linesmen/technical repair crew of MORE Power, the frontliners of the city’s power distribution utility.
As “Paeng” lingered, bringing havoc to “I Am Iloilo City”, MORE Power posted on social media: “We are receiving a high volume of power-related reports due to the inclement weather.
“Aside from the whole block-no-light reports, we have also received reports such as a single house with no light, sparking wire, pole fire, etc. There might be some delays in the responses but rest assured we will attend to your concerns accordingly. Our team is working round the clock to cater all concerns and restore power at the soonest possible time.”
Heavy rains and strong gushing winds are the last things a linesman needs when repairing live electrical connections and restoring power. But despite the risk and dangers to their lives these determined linesmen/repair crew just went about and did their business.
It may sound mundane but what MORE Power did at the height of “Paeng” was extraordinary to say the least. By sticking to their jobs they averted a total city-wide blackout.
***
We segue to an example of helping one another for the common good…
Just recently the city and the region experienced a spike in power rates (although we’re still the second lowest compared to the rest) brought about by geopolitics and the law of supply and demand.
Of course, MORE Power has been searching for alternatives to bring power rates down to a more comfortable level. Unexpectedly this support came (excerpts from an Oct. 21, 2022 article on Panay News):
SP to request ERC to fast-track MORE, EDC contract approval
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) will help MORE Power appeal to the Energy Regulation Commission to fast-track the approval of the power distributor’s five-year supply agreement with the Energy Development Corporation (EDC).
Under the contract, EDC will supply 20 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power to MORE Power.
According to Councilor Romel Duron, chairman of the SP committee on energy and public utilities, they will pass a resolution on this probably next week.
MORE Power president and chief executive officer Roel Castro emphasized that they are finding ways to lower their rate and contracting EDC is one of these.
“If geothermal (power) comes in, (the rate) would go down probably by over a peso,” he told the legislative body.
MORE Power also tasked a 24/7 trading team to monitor the pricing at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and will purchase from there if prices are cheaper.
***
While we’re on the topic of repair and rehabilitation, we got this piece of interesting information from MORE Power about Load Break Switches and its effect on power outages:
The Load Break Switch (LBS), continuously rehabilitates lines effectively and increase power network reliability. This equipment allows the transfer of one feeder to another without the risk of unbalance to substation feeder over current relays as when manually operated by our response team through disconnect switches.
An arc or flashover current is produced when an energized line segment is manually opened from a node, one phase at a time. This poses a risk to our RTs and the workers in the field as the flashover current may come into contact with them during switching. With LBS, all phases are operated simultaneously.
When the LBS are integrated into SCADA along with the ACRs, a self-healing system can be implemented. The system can automatically isolate a defective section of the power network and transfer the remaining segment to its nearby feeder using the algorithm of the (SCADA) software. The process is carried out quickly and automatically, enhancing worker safety and efficiency.
As of September 2022, a total of 19 LBS were installed with 7 more LBS by December 2022 and 10 LBS by 2023.
Not bad at all. in fact it’s good./PN
