NGCP gives assurance everything under control

MANILA, Philippines - “Everything is under control,” the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), operator of the country’s transmission highway, said yesterday.

NCGP spokesperson Cynthia Perez Alabanza made this assurance after an isolated three-hour brownout over the weekend which was caused by a line tripping at a Bulacan-based substation.

“It was an isolated incident and not a portent of any major power outage or running brownouts this summer,” Alabanza said.

She said the tripping of the 500-kilovolt San Jose-San Manuel transmission line last Saturday, which led to a power outage in some parts of Metro Manila and Luzon, was caused by a grassfire that started between Towers 196 and 197 of the line in Barangay Sumacab in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

“The cause is clearly not a transmission problem or technical constraint on the part of the NGCP but a physical fault which is beyond our control,” Alabanza said.

“This is an isolated incident that could have been avoided if we can all work together in helping safeguard our transmission lines.”

“NGCP president and CEO Henry Sy Jr. is appealing to communities hosting transmission facilities across the country to be more vigilant in guarding and protecting high-voltage transmission lines against grassfires, especially during the summer season,” she said.

“With more than 19,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines in the country, the NGCP is requesting the public’s assistance in protecting the lines in their respective communities,” she added.

She noted that “The public is advised not to build a fire near or under transmission structures,” Alabanza said. “Planting of trees, putting up of antennas, and building of houses or other structures near or under transmission structures are also discouraged as these obstructions easily causepower outages when they come in contact with high-voltage power lines.”