Negros Power announced that MORE Power deployed its 10MVA (Ten MegaVolt Amperes) mobile substation from Iloilo City to Bacolod City. This mobile substation will be used to support the load requirement of the Alijis substation, which suffered significant damage. The mobile substation was anticipated to arrive on Saturday and will be swiftly assembled at the Alijis site. By Tuesday, the mobile substation may start supplying power to the affected feeders.
Read: Alijis Substation Transformer Breakdown: Bacolod City Faces Major Power Disruption
Installing a New Transformer
Simultaneously, Negros Power is preparing to install a new 18 MVA power transformer to permanently replace the one that broke down at the Alijis substation. They estimate the replacement process will take one to two weeks. This new transformer will be vital in restoring the full capacity and stabilizing the power supply in the area.
Temporary Power Rerouting
While the mobile substation is being assembled, Negros Power has implemented a temporary solution by rerouting the power supply from nearby substations. This involves connecting alternate sources to the feeders that previously relied on the Alijis substation. One of the significant efforts includes laying out new, larger capacity cables stretching six kilometers. They need to connect Murcia Feeder 1 to Alijis Feeder 3, which already carries a high load demand. And because of the distance and existing load on Murcia Feeder 1, they cannot fully operate AF3 without implementing load shedding or rotational brownouts in certain areas.
The Unexpected Breakdown
Even before the formal transition from CENECO to Negros Power this August, the company had prepared a comprehensive rehabilitation and modernization plan worth no less than 2 billion pesos. Negros Power planned to begin this project in the coming months. This is part of Negros Power’s commitment as they fully take over as the new electric distribution utility. However, the 13-year-old power transformer at the Alijis substation unexpectedly failed last Wednesday night, triggering a major outage.
According to Negros Power, more than 40,000 registered consumers were affected by the power interruption. Seven feeders supply power to these consumers, with a combined demand of 32 megawatts. Negros Power’s Chief Operations Officer, Engr. Bailey Del Castillo, confirmed that upon inspection, they discovered that the internal damage was so extensive that repairs were impossible.
Moving Forward with Rehabilitation and Modernization
(“It’s unfortunate because it exploded before our planned rehabilitation scheduled for the next month.”)
“Sa gihapon, ang permanente nga solusyon dire amo ang implementasyon sang Negros Power sang 5-year Rehabilitation kag Modernization sang aton pasilidades agud malikawan na ang mga krisis nga kapareho sini,” Cabrera added.
(“Still, the permanent solution here is the implementation of Negros Power’s 5-year Rehabilitation and Modernization plan for our facilities to prevent crises like this from happening.”)
