Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) reenergized the 48,000 consumers of the conked-out Alijis Substation about 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26.
Spokesperson Jonathan Cabrera said they restored power supply through the 10 megavolt amperes (MVA) mobile substation of sister company, MORE Power Iloilo, and the tie-ups to the feeders of the other substations.
The mobile substation with 12 megawatts (MW) capacity is enough to power the 9.3MW demand load of Alijis Feeders 1 and 3.
Alijis Feeder 3 suffered almost five days of rotational brownouts due to supply deficiency from the Murcia Substation, where it was temporarily tied up.
With the energization from the mobile substation, the power has returned to normal, and no more rotational brownouts will be implemented by Negros Power, Cabrera said.
He added that some feeders of the Alijis Substation remain tied up to the adjacent substations until Negros Power energizes the 18MVA new power transformer, which is scheduled on Sept. 2.
In a statement, Negros Power president Roel 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.
Still, they must take the risk because they prioritized restoring Bacolod City consumers’ electricity immediately.
“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 the 13-year-old power transformer of Alijis Substation on Aug. 21 led to its early rehabilitation on top of six other substations previously owned by Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), which are now also breaching the standard threshold or already reaching critical operational levels.
Their rehabilitation will be prioritized once Negros Power fully implements the P2-billion 5-year development plan in central Negros.
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. ||
