NGCP: Power fully restored in Panay after partial blackout

Electricity in areas affected by a partial blackout in Panay island were fully restored past midnight Saturday, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said.

In an advisory, the NGCP said that at 12:26 a.m., it “fully restored all affected feeders in Panay Island and normalized transmission operations in the area.”

On Friday afternoon, the grid operator reported that an unplanned shutdown of  Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) units 1, 2, 3 with a capacity of 316 megawatts and the ongoing maintenance of PCPC (135 MW) caused a partial blackout in Panay.

Some customers in Negros were also affected by the partial blackout.

Nonetheless, power for affected customers in Negros was fully restored at 8:48 p.m. on March 1, according to the grid operator.

In its latest power situation update, the NGCP said 167.9 MW is being served by Panay power plants, augmented by 102.4 MW from sources elsewhere in the Visayas, for a total of 270.3 MW served loads.

Moreover, the company said PEDC units 1 and 2 were restored at their 31.7% and 62.4% capacities, respectively.

“With the restoration of all affected loads, NGCP normalized transmission operations,” it said.

“Specific cities/municipalities still with power interruptions may contact their local distribution utilities and electric cooperatives for details of restoration in their areas,” it added.

Last January, Panay experienced a widespread and prolonged power outage after several power plants tripped.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier said the January outage caused P3.8 billion worth of economic losses in Iloilo alone. The total blackout in Panay island lasted for three days, while parts of Negros Occidental were under rotational power. — VDV, GMA Integrated News