Power outage hits Metro Manila as Transco lines trip

Several areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces on Tuesday suffered power failures following the tripping of three transmission lines of the National Transmission Corp (TransCo). In a statement, the National Power Corp. said the power interruptions occurred around 1:14 pm when the San Jose–Balintawak 230 kV line, Hermosa–Mexico 230 kV line, and Cabanatuan–Mexico 230 kV line, operated by TransCo went off line Tuesday afternoon. The tripping of the transmission lines “affected the power plants of the National Power Corp.," Napocor said. Among the plants affected includes the Ilijan Natural Gas Plant and Calaca Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant in Batangas, the Malaya Thermal Plant in Pililla, Rizal, and Limay Combined Cycle Power Plant in Bataan. “Nature of the tripping is not yet known as of press time," the state-owned power firm said. Napocor said these plants are now on stand-by and will be immediately placed on-line as soon as the said transmission lines have been restored. Some areas in Metro Manila, however, already have normal power. Elpi Cuna, Manila Electric Co.'s corporate communications chief in a separate interview said restoration of the power supply in their franchise areas are still ongoing. He said among the areas that suffered brownouts are Batangas, Bataan, Bulacan, some areas in Quezon City, Balintawak, and some parts of Pasay, Makati and Manila. Operations of Lines 1 and 2 of the Light Rail Transit and the Metro Rail Transit have similarly been stalled for 30 minutes. Meantime, both Transco and Napocor will issue bulletins to update the public on the progress of the restoration of the power supply and also the cause of the blackout. - GMANews.TV