Day-long power shutdown hits some parts of Leyte, entire Samar Island

TACLOBAN CITY, July 16 (PNA) – Nearly half of the region’s households and businesses suffered 11-hour power interruptions on Saturday due to transfer of wires from emergency restoration system to a permanent tower.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said power outage hit the entire Samar Island and some parts of Leyte, including this city from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The power outage will disrupt Saturday activities of 320,817 households and business establishments in Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and some part of northern Leyte. The figure represents 44 percent of the region’s 722,493 total connections.

Ma. Rosette B. Martinez, spokesperson of NGCP-Visayas, said that transfer of wires is part of their post-disaster works in Eastern Visayas. The wires will be transferred to Tower 13 located along the 138kV (kilovolts) Ormoc-Babatngon line in Leyte Island.

“The emergency restoration systems are basically used after a transmission line is damaged and these are only temporary. Now, we have to and transfer them to permanent structures,” Martinez said in a phone interview.

The Babatngon facility in Leyte supplies power in Tacloban and nearby towns of Palo and Babatngon, some parts of Samar and entire Eastern Samar. The Catbalogan substation in Samar transmits electricity to some parts of Samar and entire Northern Samar province.

Of the 320,817 households and businesses affected, 54,411 are being serviced by Leyte II Electric Cooperative; 64,712 by Northern Samar Electric Cooperative; 53,228 by Samar I Electric Cooperative; 70,337 by Samar II Electric Cooperative and 78,129 by Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative.

The supply of electric power in Eastern Visayas is generated solely from the Leyte Tongonan Geothermal Field with a total capacity of 699.4 megawatts, more than enough to supply the power requirements of the region. (PNA)
ZST/SARWELL Q. MENIANO