ILOILO City – Panay Island is likely to continue experiencing rotational brownouts or power interruptions until this Thursday night.
Power generator Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) based in Concepcion, Iloilo – which has a load capacity of 135 megawatts – is expected to be synchronized with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) by tonight.
If the synchronization proceeds as planned, Panay Island can expect a stable electricity supply or a return to 100 percent power supply by early Friday morning, according to Engineer Bernard Bailey Del Castillo, vice president for Network Development and Operations Group of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the sole power distributor in Iloilo City.
Until then, “there will be rotating brownouts or interruptions.”
MORE Power yesterday received an update from PCPC that synchronization with the grid will begin on Thursday night.
Del Castillo told Panay News, “The return of PCPC to the grid is crucial for normalizing our current grid condition.”
Engineer Miguel Paguntalan Jr., general manager of Iloilo Electric Cooperative, Inc. 1 (ILECO 1), also indicated that the power supply on Panay Island might stabilize by Thursday night or early Friday morning.
Contacting PCPC on Wednesday morning, Paguntalan learned that a turbine issue at the power plant required restoration to its original state before it could synchronize with the grid.
NGCP blamed unscheduled maintenance shutdowns of Panay Island’s largest power plants as the primary cause of the power blackout.
In a statement, NGCP stated that on Jan. 2, various power plants on Panay Island, including Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) Units 1 and 2 (83 megawatts each), and PCPC (135MW), experienced multiple trippings. Consequently, 451 megawatts, or 68.75 percent of the total 656 megawatts in-island generation, was lost from the Panay sub-grid.
NGCP added that maintenance shutdowns and deration of plants outside the Department of Energy’s (DOE) approved Grid Operating and Maintenance Program also contributed to the power supply issues.
PCPC’s media relation officer committed to counter NGCP’s claim today.
Meanwhile, PEDC early last night announced that they successfully restored their power supply to the grid.
PEDC Units 1 and 2 were contributing a combined capacity of 139.6 MW.
Its Unit 3 is currently undergoing a scheduled Preventive Maintenance Schedule/Shutdown, which began on Dec. 19, 2023, with necessary approvals.
PEDC explained that the tripping of PEDC Unit 1 on Jan. 2, 2023, was due to the momentary activation of the vibration protection of the Boiler Feedwater Pump (BFP) during load reduction./PN
