Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 4) — Residents affected by the power outage in Iloilo City can expect electricity supply to resume on Friday, Mayor Jerry Treñas said Thursday.
Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source, Treñas said authorities told him that 100% of the electricity supply is expected to return “by midnight of tonight.”
The power outage being experienced in parts of Western Visayas since Tuesday was due to unscheduled maintenance shutdown and the tripping of multiple power plants, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said.
Treñas said rotational brownout is being implemented since current supply can only service 50% of the capacity. This was also his reason why he suspended classes in all levels for another day.
The city government shared in social media post photos of residents who left their houses to spend the night sleeping on benches and on the grounds of Jaro Plaza. Hotels are also fully booked as Ilonggos seek better places to stay amid the outage.
The NGCP said in its 10 a.m. advisory that 10 power plants are already operational, supplying 202.9 megawatts (MW) and augmented by 39.2 MW from other sources in the Visayas. It is also still waiting for the 135-MW Palm Concepcion Power Corporation to synchronize back to the grid.
\”We reiterate that load restoration will be done conservatively, by matching loads to restored generation, to prevent repeated voltage failure,\” the NGCP added.
The Visayas grid needs 300 MW to stabilize.
Iloilo officials sought a meeting with government agencies dealing with energy on Thursday to address the power outage that hit parts of Western Visayas this week.
\”At 9 o’clock, we requested, together with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, for an emergency meeting with the Department of Energy, the National Grid Corporation (of the Philippines) and the rest of the power sector, including concerned local chief executives, number 1 to address the problem,\” Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor, Jr. told CNN Philippines’ New Day.
He said they will also look into the status of the directives earlier issued by the DOE following the power outage that occurred in April last year.
