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NGCP submarine cable damaged, Negros power supply not affected

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is working to repair its Negros high voltage submarine cable damaged during Department of Public Workers and Highways (DPWH) re-channeling activities.

However, the damage has not affected the power needs of Negros and Panay islands, NGCP information officer Michelle Visera assured Wednesday, July 7.

This is because of Negros and Panay have their own power plants, she said.

NGCP’s 138kV high voltage submarine cable that is under repair was damaged during dredging and re-channeling activities undertaken by the DPWH along Bio-os River in Brgy. Jagna, Amlan, Negros Oriental, on June 15, she said.

The cable, which interconnects Negros and Cebu, has two circuits of 138kV submarine cable with 90MW capacity each or a total capacity of 180MW, she said.

Because of the damage to one of the two circuits, transmission capacity is currently limited to 90MW between the two islands, Visera said.

NGCP’s System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) was automatically activated after the incident to isolate the affected circuit and prevent overloading of the remaining cable, she said.

Initial reports received by NGCP indicate that a contributing factor to the incident was the deviation on the agreed work site by the DPWH. NGCP has requested the local government of Amlan and the DPWH to temporarily stop their operations, and immediately implemented measures to contain the oil spill.

“It is unfortunate that this happened at such a crucial time when electricity is critical to COVID-19 response efforts. NGCP assures its stakeholders that all hands are on deck to restore the affected facility and mitigate the impacts of the oil spill and scattered cable debris,” a company statement said.

The extent of the damage was fully assessed on June 23 and 24 and coordination is ongoing with partner foreign technical experts for the commencement of actual repair activities, it added.*

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