DOE still can’t power some diesel plants

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Saturday said steps are under way to swiftly restore electricity and energy services in Typhoon “Opong” affected areas across the country.

In a statement, the agency said on grid power plants BACMAN Units 1–3 in Albay and Sorsogon (133 megawatts [MW] dependable capacity), as well as the Palayan Binary Plant in Albay (28 MW), have been restored.

On the other hand, the Nabas 2 Wind in Aklan (13.8 dependable capacity) remained on outage as of posting time.

The DOE also reported that nine diesel power plants under the National Power Corporation (NPC) Small Power Utilities Group were fully operational, but challenges persist with distribution lines.

On the transmission side, three 69kV (kilovolt) NPC Transmission Lines (TL) in Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro and in Occidental Mindoro were partially energized due to DL faults, while the Masbate 69kV TL was on standby.

The DOE, said the NPC Task Force has already deployed restoration teams focused on reducing restoration times in affected minigrids in Camiguin Island and Cagayan.

As a preventive measure, NPC Power Barges 113 and 120 were disconnected from the Marinduque Grid, and Power Barge 114 was disconnected from the Ticao Grid.

Transmission services

Transmission services in Luzon and Visayas, meanwhile, were back to normal with the restoration of the Batangas-Taysan 69kV TL in Luzon and the Calbayog-Allen 69kV TL in the Visayas.

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Ambuklao and Binga Dams in Benguet province were conducting controlled spilling operations, with two gates open.

Magat Dam, which covers Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao and Isabela, had two gates open while maintaining normal power generation.

The DOE said 32 electric cooperatives (ECs) in 27 provinces across 10 regions were being monitored, while 27 ECs were experiencing partial power interruptions.

ECs that were reported under total power interruption were mostly in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan).