ILOILO – A seven-hour brownout hit parts of Iloilo Electric Cooperative 1’s (Ileco-1) service area here late Wednesday night until early morning yesterday.
Lightning struck a bamboo plant in Cabatuan, Iloilo at around 11:34 p.m. and several bamboo poles fell against the Santa Barbara-Tigbauan 69 kV line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
This caused the NGCP line to trip, said Michelle Visera, regional corporate communications and public affairs officer of NGCP for Western Visayas.
NGCP is operating, maintaining and developing the country’s state-owned power grid.
Affected areas were the municipalities of Cabatuan, Maasin, Alimodian, Leon, San Miguel, portions of Santa Barbara, Pavia, Igbaras and Guimbal, and Tigbauan.
Power was restored around 6 a.m. yesterday, said Ileco-1 general manager Engineer Mike Paguntalan.
Visera said NGCP troubleshooters had difficulty connecting to the five power substations of Ileco-1./PN
