Negros Electric and Power Corporation (Negros Power) restored electricity to more than 48,000 consumers served by the Alijis Substation in Bacolod City on Monday, August 26, Roel Castro, its president and chief executive officer, said.
At around 10 a.m. on Monday Negros Power fully energized and delivered the electricity to the affected customers through the 10 MegaVolt Amperes (MVA) mobile substation that they brought to the Alijis Substation from Iloilo City and the tie-ups to the feeders of other substations, Castro said in a press statement.
There will be no more rotational brownouts, he said.
The 13-year-old 37 MegaVolt Amperes (MVA) transformer at the Alijis Substation busted on August 21 and all its feeders delivering power to the more than 48,000 consumers were affected,
The mobile substation with 12 MegaWatts (MW) capacity is enough to power the 9.3MW demand load of Alijis Feeders 1 and 3, the Negros Power statement on Monday said.
Alijis Feeder 3 suffered for almost five days of rotational brownouts due to a supply deficiency from the Murcia substation, where it was temporarily tied up, it added.
“With the energization of the mobile substation, the power has returned to normal, and no more rotational brownouts will be implemented by Negros Power,” the Negros Power statement said.
Some feeders of the Alijis substation remain tied up to adjacent substations until Negros Power energizes the 18MVA new power transformer, which is scheduled on September 2, it added.
Castro said that their decision to bring the 10MVA mobile station of MORE Power from Iloilo City is a significant risk on their part because it is the asset of their sister company.
However, they had to take the risk because their priority was to restore electricity immediately, he said.
“We are not happy about what has happened but are committed to making things better for the consumers. Just give us time, space, and the benefit of the doubt. We will prove ourselves in due time,” Castro said after the restoration of the electricity.
The early demise of its 13-year-old power transformer on August 21 led to the early rehabilitation of the Alijis Substation, he said.
There are six other substations also previously owned by Central Negros Electric Cooperative that are now breaching the standard threshold or already reaching critical operational levels, Castro said.
They will prioritize their rehabilitation once Negros Power fully implements its P2 billion 5-year development plan in Central Negros, he added.
Negros Power and CENECO entered into a Joint Venture Agreement primarily to augment the financial needs in the rehabilitation and modernization of the electric distribution assets and meet the power demand of the increasing number of consumers, the Negros Power press statement said.
At the request of CENECO, beginning on August 1, Negros Power began deploying its personnel to augment the management and operations of the distribution system of CENECO which Negros Power had purchased, it added.*