Are the brownouts in Palawan caused by lack of power supply?
The Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) informs its members of power maintenance schedules through its Facebook page. A quick survey of its posts revealed that the causes of 34 instances of brownouts in a 4-month period from October 2013 to January 2014 are related to poles (replacement, addition), generators (tripped, emergency shutdown, replacement), line (line fault, line conversion, clearing, resagging), and line to ground fault due to gecko that short circuited and caused a total blackout in the entire Palawan grid.
In the graph and table below are the dates and the corresponding causes of brownouts (copied verbatim from the Facebook page of PALECO). In my limited understanding of generators and electricity, I cannot see a cause that indicates a lack of power supply.
In short, the brownouts are not due to lack of power but due to the poor state of the transmission and distribution lines. So do not be lead into thinking that we are desperately in need of additional power through a coal-fired power plant. The coal-fired power plant will not solve the brownouts.
Click on the graph for bigger view |
DATE
|
CAUSES OF
POWER INTERRUPTION
|
|
1
|
Enero 29, 2014 (MIYERKULES)
|
Pagdaragdag ng poste malapit sa St. Mary’s
Subd., pagdugtong ng linya ng mga sitio sa ilalim ng Sitio Electrification
Program (SEP) at pagpapalit ng cross-arm sa harap ng 168 mall.
|
2
|
January 24, 2014
|
PPGI Unit #3 tripped, engine fault indication
due to lube oil low pressure.
|
3
|
January 16, 2014 (Thursday)
|
Replacement of poles at Pangobilian and Lada;
And Installation of transformers at DENR and Multipurpose Cooperative
|
4
|
January 10, 2014
|
Unit No. 1 and 3 of Delta P Tripped.
|
5
|
January 8, 2014 (Wednesday)
|
Replacement of Rotten Pole (C8 construction
assembly)
|
6
|
January 5, 2014
|
Emergency Shutdown of Unit #4 of Delta P
|
7
|
December 20, 2013
|
Delta P unit #1 indication – overspeed.
|
8
|
December 19, 2013
|
Damaged Transformer Pole near NIA Office
|
9
|
December 19, 2013 (Thursday)
|
Installation of additional pole for NOVO
tapping pole.
|
10
|
December 17, 2013 (Tuesday)
|
Replacement of rotten poles at Iwahig
National Highway, ahead of Bucana Housing (pole nos. PP0168, PP0169 and
PP0621) and realignment of pole (pole no. PP0616).
|
11
|
December 16, 2013
|
Line fault - damaged pole and insulator.
Power will be restored immediately after the completion of line
rehabilitation and construction of pole.
|
12
|
December 16, 2013
|
Line fault
|
13
|
December 13, 2013
|
Line Fault at National Power Corporation Tie
Line (busted suspension insulators found near Irawan Substation)
|
14
|
December 6,
2013
|
Unit # 2 of Delta P Tripped – Indication was
over speed.
|
15
|
December 4, 2013 (Wednesday)
|
Replacement of pole at Iwahig Highway.
|
16
|
December 3, 2013 (Tuesday)
|
Replacement of pole at Barangay Concepcion
National Highway.
|
17
|
November 30, 2013
|
All recloser with Auto Load Dropping (ALD)
tripped. This was caused by tripping of units of PPGI and DMCI. Disturbance
initiated from over loading of Unit #1 and Unit # 2 and breaker failure of
Unit # 3 of PPGI. DMCI over frequency tripping was cause by a big loss of
demand affected by ALD.
|
18
|
November 28, 2013 (Thursday)
|
Replacement of rotten poles at Binduyan at
National Highway
|
19
|
November 27, 2013 (Wednesday)
|
Continuation of Single Phase to Three Phase
Line Conversion along Abad Santos Street.
|
20
|
November 19, 2013, at 6:07 pm Total Blackout
at the entire Palawan Grid (Puerto Princesa City and Southern Municipalities)
|
Line to ground fault due to a gecko short
circuited at Irawan 40 MVA National Power Corporation Substation power
transformer bushing.
|
21
|
November 19, 2013
NAPOCOR Total Plant Shutdown |
Replacement of 600 kW generating set by a
1,000 kW generating set (rental unit.)
|
22
|
November 18, 2013
|
Temporary Line Fault
|
23
|
November 18, 2013
|
emergency stop of operation on Palawan Power
Generations, Inc.'s Unit #1 due to fuel leak that resulted to ignite fire.
|
24
|
November 14, 2013
|
Delta P Unit No. 3 tripped, oil mist
detected.
|
25
|
November 14, 2013 (Thursday)
|
Emergency line clearing
|
26
|
November 13, 2013 (Wednesday)
|
Single to three Phase Line Conversion along
Abad Santos St.
|
27
|
November 06, 2013 (Wednesday)
|
For replacement of rotten poles along Abad
Santos St.
|
28
|
October 26, 2013 (Saturday)
|
For replacement of rotten pole and conversion of A1 to A14
pole construction assembly at Abad Santos Extn. near Alvin Lao Warehouse.
|
29
|
October 26, 2013 (Saturday)
|
Assist clearing of Acacia tree near Old
Garcellano Bldg, Pardeco Bancao-Bancao.
|
30
|
October 25, 2013 (Friday)
|
Resagging of Primary Line
|
31
|
October 25, 2013 (Friday)
|
Replacement of rotten poles
|
32
|
October 02, 2013 (Wednesday)
|
Replacement of rotten poles (PP2864, PP2849,
PP2846)
|
33
|
October 01, 2013 (Tuessday)
|
Replacement of rotten pole (PP4845) near
Yayen's compound, installation of additional pole in front of Smart Tower at
Abad Santos Extn. and conversion of primary poles from A1 to A14 construction
near Drugman Warehouse, Abad Santos Extn.
|
34
|
October 01, 2013 (Tuesday)
|
Replacement of rotten pole at PAGASA Compound
(PP4411 and PP4412)
|