ILOILO City – A maximum of P50 million in fines will be imposed on those who would be found at fault for the three-day blackout in Western Visayas from April 27 to 29, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Atty. Joel Bontuyan, ERC Visayas director, yesterday said the possible fines would range from P50,000 to P50 million per offense.
“ERC looked into the cause of the problem… If proven na ‘yun talaga ang reason na some of the approved projects were not swiftly implemented or there was something wrong, if proven na nagkamali talaga, magkakaron ng sanctions. If proven na they were supposed to have protection pero hindi nailagay, inferior ‘yung nailagay or if may nailagay man, hindi nag-work, magkakaroon talaga ng sanctions,” added Bontuyan.
The ERC revealed yesterday it already has the initial result of the investigation on the unannounced power interruptions in Panay and Negros islands last month which resulted to huge economic losses for the region.
Bontuyan, however, said it is their central office that would decide when to make result public.
Bontuyan was among the resource speakers during the Iloilo City Energy Forum at Hotel del Rio here yesterday.
He noted that the investigation does not only focus on the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
“We are actually looking at several factors because in this kind of system na maraming interconnected na distribution utilities and generators, it is impossible to focus only on one potential actor,” Bontuyan explained.
If NGCP were to be believed, a fault occurred along the Bacolod-Silay 69-kiloVolt line at 1:50 p.m. on April 27. The line was maintained and operated in part by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CENECO) and NGCP.
Subsequently, Palm Concepcion Power Corporation, with estimated generation load of 135 megawatts, tripped 1.3 seconds after fault clearing.
The resulting undervoltage and underfrequency were severe and unrecoverable, and were the direct causes of the tripping of other power plants connected to the system, and ultimately, the Panay sub-grid collapsed.
The subsequent trippings that occurred on April 28 and 29 were a direct result of the avoidable events of April 27, NGCP claimed.
Bontuyan said the alleged fault in the CENECO affected a wider area because of interconnection.
However, he stressed the protection systems should have worked to isolate the affected area.
“Pero hindi dapat sana nangyari kasi along the transmission line, may mga protection diyan na hindi mag-spread kung may mga problema sa isang lugar. Dapat ma-isolate niya para hindi mag-cause ng problem in other areas,” Bontuyan explained.
The result of the investigation would show which protection facilities have worked and did not.
It was the office of Councilor Rommel Duron, who chairs the Iloilo City Council’s committee on energy and public utilities, that initiated yesterday’s energy forum.
Entitled “Powering a Sustainable Future: Illuminating Iloilo’s Electric Power Sector”, the one-day forum aimed at bringing together stakeholders from various sectors to discuss and provide a platform to gain a deeper understanding of the roles, responsibilities and contributions of key players in the electric power industry setup in this city./PN
