The Department of Energy (DOE) said three power generation plants were shut down on Saturday due to severe tropical storm “Paeng,” as the country’s biggest power distributor said more than half of its 7.5 million customers went dark as the cyclone rumbled through the country.
In a statement, the DOE said the plants included three units of Bacman geothermal power plant, Quezon Power Philippines Ltd.’s (QPPL) coal-fired power plant, and two units of TeaM Energy Therma Luzon’s Pagbilao coal-fired power plant.
Bacman Units 1 and 2 are operational again while Unit 3 was put on house load, or when a small part of the rated capacity is generated to power only the auxiliary loads of the plant, the DOE said on Sunday.
QPPL’s power plant was likewise disconnected from the grid on Saturday afternoon due to the malfunction of its feedwater control valve during the onslaught of the storm.
The 382-megawatt (MW) Unit 1 of Pagbilao coal-fired power plant, on the other hand, was synchronized to the grid before Sunday noon.
The 420-MW Unit 2, on the other hand, is estimated to return to service on Monday.
The Department of Energy also reported that 16 69 kilovolt (kV) lines were energized as of 9 a.m. Sunday.
“[A]s of 10 a.m. on 30 October 2022, out of 96 ECs (electric cooperatives), 38 ECs are in normal operation, 32 are in partial power interruption, 10 total power interruption, and 16 ECs without submission,” the DOE advisory read.
About 68 percent or 804 out of 1,174 municipalities that were affected by Paeng have been fully energized.
The Manila Electric Co., for its part, said Sunday that around 4,041,097 customers, or more than half of its 7.5 million customers across its franchise area, were affected by Paeng.
Meralco said this is the highest number of affected customers from any weather disturbance encountered this year.
The company said about 450,538 customers are still affected as of 1 p.m. Sunday. Most of them are in Laguna and Cavite, and the rest are in Batangas, Metro Manila, Bulacan, Quezon, and Rizal.
“We ask for our customers’ patience and understanding since we could not give a definite time on when service will be restored. Rest assured that our ground personnel and line crews are working round the clock to restore power at the soonest possible time,” Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said.
PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) network, on the other hand, remained resilient in Northern Luzon following the onslaught of “Paeng.”
“Our teams have prepositioned mission-critical equipment and manpower even before ‘Paeng’ intensified into a severe tropical storm which helped our network stay resilient,” Cathy Yang, first vice president and Group head of Corporate Communications at PLDT and Smart said.
“We await more details on the restoration of commercial power in areas such as Batangas and Laguna, as our connectivity service is dependent on power. We are widening our relief distribution in the coming days to reach more people in need,” she added.