‘Iloilo City blackouts due to much-needed upgrade’

MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of much-needed maintenance works in the power distribution network of Iloilo City caused the blackouts in the area, MORE Electric and Power Corp. said.

MORE Power president Roel Castro said the sorry state of the distribution system – which it took over in Feb. 28 – prompted the company to implement maintenance works on substations, transformers and distribution systems in the past three months, causing outages around the city.

Castro said Iloilo City’s former power distributor failed to implement new capital expenditures for the last 10 years for improvements and facility upgrades.

The company’s inspections on the substations, transformers and cables in the city revealed alarming conditions of the distribution system. Four of the five substations are over 90 percent loaded against the normal load of 70 to 80 percent, he said.

The five power substations are an integral part of the power distribution system as they reduce voltage to a level suitable for local distribution. Apart from stabilizing the system, substations also protect the consumers from sudden drops or surges of electricity.

To avoid bigger damage and longer interruptions, MORE Power started the comprehensive preventive maintenance of the substations and it needed a maximum of 13 hours to complete the process.

The problem was exacerbated because of the summer season which increased demand for power and took its toll on distribution lines, many of which are undersized, and the already overloaded transformers.

Castro said the required maintenance works led to the longest brownout in Jaro district last May 17 after MORE Power conducted preventive maintenance work on the Jaro substation.

“On the part of the substations, we have to undertake the maintenance works and implement brownouts because if we don’t do this now, the facilities will explode, and we will suffer from longer brownouts,” he added.