One Bohol Power bailed out several areas from the total blackout yesterday through the Power Barge 104 docked at Tapal Wharf in Ubay, the Dampas Diesel Power Plant and hydro-power plants.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) projected a system load of 81 megawatts (MW) for Bohol yesterday where 12 MW would come from diesel plant, 4 MW from hydro-power plants, and 65 MW from Leyte.
However, the NGCP shut down the power transmission through its Maasin-Ubay 138-kilovolts (KV) submarine cable line from Leyte from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. yesterday to facilitate the annual preventive maintenance of Ubay 100 MVA TR, Corella 100MVA transformer, 15 MVAR shunt reactor, 138KV/69kv PCBs and Maasin-Ubay 138 kv submarine cable line and its associated high voltage equipment—including protective and secondary devices—and integrity testing of fault clearance system.
In the light of the 11-hour power shutdown by NGCP, the Bohol Light Company, Inc. (BLCI) “facilitated power rationing with the availability of Power Barge 104 and Bohol Dampas Diesel Power Plant.
On the part of Boheco I, Engr. Reinerio Tumabang said Boheco I had been allocated 7MW from the power barge, Dampas Diesel Plant and the hydro-power plants in Janopol and Sevilla to be able to undertake the rationing of power supply to their consumers yesterday.
The One Bohol Power concept is attributed to the Emergency Power Use granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission through the representation of Gov. Edgar Chatto and the energy sector.
With this, only in areas covered by the repair and maintenance works of the NGCP and Distribution Utilities (DUs) in specific places experienced power service interruption yesterday.
“The Dampas diesel power plant in Tagbilaran City, Power Barge 104 in Ubay, and the hydro-power plants in Hanopol, Sevilla, and Loboc supplied power” while the NGCP was undertaking maintenance work on the Leyte-Bohol interconnection for 11 hours yesterday.
“For Tagbilaran Residents, BLCI rationed power allocated from power barge and Dampas Diesel Plant” and made it possible for its feeders being energized except for Feeders B and C due to the on-going NGCP activities of the NGCP Tagb-Corella Line.
On this, the affected areas were only part of Poblacion 3, specifically part of R. Enerio St., Tamblot St., part of B. Inting St.; the areas along CPG North Ave. from corner Tamblot St. to FCB Taloto area; B. Aquino Ave., T. Cloma Ave.; part of Cogon such as the New Calceta, Glovasa St., and Airport Road which are served by
Feeder B.
The areas served by Feeder C were also affected and it included the areas along J.A. Clarin St. from corner Tamblot St. to the New City Hall area, Calceta St., G. Lamdagan St., F. Torralba St., and Aumentado Road.
The power supply was restored Bohol-wide at 3 p.m. as scheduled.
The power rationing was made possible through the Ubay Sub-Station Tapal 69-KV Tie-Line and Power Barge 104, with the assistance of NGCP, Salcon Power Corporation, Boheco I and Boheco II, and BLCI.
At first, NGCP scheduled the 11-hour blackout at 5 a.m. – 6 p.m. but moved it to 4 a.m. – 3 p.m. upon the requests of some local government units that had scheduled nightly activities in connection to their fiesta celebrations.
LGU-Lila had requested the NGCP to restore power transmission hours earlier than 6 p.m. to ensure that their nightly activity for the town’s bisperas would push through on time.
The LGU-Buenavista had also requested for an earlier restoration of the power supply as the town also had activities last night.
On October 4, NGCP also caused one-hour power service interruptions twice which affected the Boheco I Macaas Substation at 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. and in the afternoon when it conducted maintenance activities along Corella-Catigbian-Tubigon 69-kV line.
The power service interruption from 6:53 p.m. to 6:26 p.m. on October 2 that affected BLCI, Boheco I and Boheco II was unscheduled.
NGCP explained that it was caused by the tripping of the 138kV Maasin-Ubay submarine cable line at 6:13 p.m.
“Line was immediately restored at 6:26 p.m., followed by the step-by-step restoration of other lines starting in Ubay,” according to the NGCP.
On December 2 last year, the DUs in Bohol also tapped power supply from the Bohol Diesel Power Plant (BDPP) in Tagbilaran City and the power barge stationed in Ubay, both owned by the Salcon Power Corp., during the 15-hour blackout.
NGCP shut down power supply transmission on that day to conduct preventive maintenance work for its 138-kV Maasin-Ubay line submarine cable that brings power supply from Maasin to Ubay.
It was calculated at that time that both the BDPP and the power barge, along with Bohol’s two hydropower plants, would generate at least 27 MW during NGCP’s maintenance work.
However, NGCP noted that power supply drawn from the barge in Ubay would be rationed and would not be enough for the entire province as the facility could only generate 16 megawatts.
Power generated from the BDPP and the small hydro-power plants was also divided accordingly among consumers throughout the 15-hour blackout at that time.
The 4,000-gross-tonnage power barge arrived Bohol on August 19 and the installation of the transmission line was completed about a month later.
SPC brought its Power Barge 104 to Bohol from General Santos City in response to the request of the provincial government to address the power supply shortage suffered last year by Bohol as a consequence of the damage on the facilities of the geothermal plants of the Energy Development Corp. in Leyte, the main source of the province for power supply.
The electrical current is transmitted through the NGCP substation in Ubay and distributed to the households by the DUs- -Boheco I, Boheco II and BLCI.