CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, March 2 (PNA) -- Ten days
after an island wide blackout plunged Mindanao into darkness on Feb. 20, energy
officials have yet to ascertain the cause of the power outage.
The mysterious blackout which the National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the power distributor, described as
“unknown transmission disturbance” has generated a number of speculations too.
The blackout lasted over five hours until
electricity restored about 9:30 o’clock in the morning on Feb. 20, 2014.
Officials of the National Power Corporation
(NAPOCOR) in Iligan City, said that the origin of the power failure that caused
a blackout in Mindanao about 3:30 on Feb. 20, 2014 could not be positively
traced.
However, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla told
the press that one of the power plants maintained by the NAPOCOR, especially
the Agus 1 in Lanao del Norte, that provides power for one of the major power
grids in Mindanao stopped operations.
NAPOCOR officials belied Petilla’s report
saying that all the power plants in Lanao del Norte, including Agus 1, were
operating normally at the time of the reported blackout in Mindanao.
NAPOCOR spokesman Romero Pacilan said that
there was “low voltage” on the transmission of the electricity which they could
not determine.
Pacilan said that the transmission of the power
from NAPOCOR was normal at that time. “However, the NGCP grid could not take in
the energy at that time because of “low voltage,” Pacilan added.
After the five hour
blackout, the NGCP said that power transmission has been restored in Cagayan de
Oro City, Davao City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Pagadian City and
some municipal towns in Mindanao.(PNA)
CTB/CD/PJN
CTB/CD/PJN
