The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines is undertaking an interim measure to prevent the Amlan-Siaton 69kV in Negros Oriental from reaching its breaking point, which may cause massive power outages.
NGCP officials, during a Power 101 seminar on Wednesday in Dumaguete, said that the re-conductoring of the 69kV line Amlan substation is a “band-aid” measure to temporarily address the increasing demand for power in its service areas.
“Right now, there are power interruptions because of the overloading of this existing line,” said Engr. Michael Baylosis, NGCP planning manager.
“We will be doing an interim measure, such as the re-conductoring of the Amlan-Siaton line, with a much bigger capacity with a completion target by early next year to minimize overloading,” he added.
The Amlan-Siaton transmission line, which services towns and cities in the coverage area of the Negros Oriental II Electric Cooperative is now overloaded and when it goes beyond its maximum capacity, it may trigger massive outages,” according to Neil Martin Modina, AVP and head for Visayas System Operations.
The 69kV line capacity is pegged at 60MW maximum but the actual demand usually exceeds this especially during peak season, such as summertime.
“Before the re-conductoring, we already increased the line’s capacity to a setting of around 70MW because if we do not implement this, the line will be isolated and the whole stretch from Amlan to Siaton will be down,” he added.
To prevent this from happening, the NGCP will have to impose manual load-dropping or rotating brownouts in certain areas.
Meanwhile, Cynthia Perez-Alabanza, NGCP assistant vice president and PR head, emphasized during the same seminar that the rec-conductoring of the 69kV line is just a “stop-gap” measure.
The demand for power in the NORECO II service areas, including the provincial capital, Dumaguete, is continuously increasing and in a few years, there will be more demand for power, she said.
A more permanent solution to this is to energize the Amlan-Dumaguete 138kV line which is still pending today, she pointed out.
Alabanza said they are hopeful that once all the issues involving the construction of the new transmission line are addressed, the power outages here will be resolved.
Some of the issues revolving around the stalled 138kV line construction include permits and other similar non-operational and technical requirements and the refusal of landowners to allow NGCP to run the transmission line across their property.
Meanwhile, the NGCP officials warned that Negros Oriental might face more power outages if the new 138kV transmission line will not be completed by early 2026.
The 138kV line, traversing 25 kilometers from Amlan town to Dumaguete, is eyed as a long-term solution to the perennial problem of power outages in areas serviced by the distribution utility, the Noreco II.
The project was initially targeted for completion by 2023 after initial negotiations started in 2020 but were delayed after residents in Barangay Ogahong, Valencia and the town’s local government expressed their opposition, citing reasons such as health concerns and other dangers posed by the exposed transmission lines and towers.
The target date for completion of the 138kV line is moved to the first quarter of 2026, NGCP said. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
