Panay blackout: Power plants shut, NGCP faulted

Multiple power plants in Panay Island shut down on Tuesday afternoon, plunging households into darkness and triggering a yellow alert for the Visayas grid from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla blamed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for the blackout, citing NGCP's failure to complete its interconnection project on time as a key factor in the power outage and expressing support for a review of the grid operator’s congressional franchise.

DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan said Friday that power may be restored within the day as affected power plants in Iloilo are working again, returning the island's power situation to normal. However, the Palm Concepcion power plant is expected to reach full capacity by Friday afternoon.

The widespread power disturbance could have been prevented had NGCP completed the 230-kilovolt Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) Backbone project on time, which was originally scheduled for December 2020 but has been delayed at least seven times.

NGCP said Friday it cannot intervene on 'matters concerning power generation,' asserting that its role is to provide an overview of the supply and demand situation and dispatch available power. The corporation also dismissed allegations that it failed in its obligation to stabilize the transmission system or was less transparent with stakeholders.

As of Friday noon, 972 schools in Western Visayas were affected by the power outage with 166 resuming classes and 806 suspending them due to rotational brownouts.