BACOLOD City – Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) clarified the cause of its unscheduled power interruption related to the Reclamation power substation on Oct. 15, 2022.
Acting general manager Ervin Stan Leo Ticar said Ceneco’s Reclamation Feeder 5 (RF5) experienced a distribution line insulator breakdown at around 12:57 a.m.
The automatic tripping mechanism of the RF5 recloser failed to function despite the danger detection, which led to a flashover that burned the electrical cables, including the recloser.
Ticar said Reclamation Feeders 1 to 5, which were all connected to the Reclamation Substation, automatically went offline.
Ceneco technical personnel composed of engineers, dispatchers and linemen promptly took the necessary steps to fix the problem.
The Ceneco executive said given the severity of the power trouble, it took hours for the technical team to fully fix the damage.
The power cooperative apologized for the inconvenience caused by the unscheduled power interruption.
Power interruptions also occurred almost simultaneously for the other electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), there was an unscheduled power interruption in Panay and Negros past midnight of Oct. 15.
Affected were Ceneco, Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco), Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) and Panay sub grid.
The power loss at Panay and Negros sub-grids was due to the isolation of NGCP’s Bacolod-Kabankalan and Bacolod-Cadiz 138 kilovolt lines, the NGCP explained./PN
