Another transmission tower of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines was bombed in Mindanao, further endangering the precarious power supply in the region during the election period.
National Grid said in a statement that Tower #25 of Agus 2-Kibawe 138 kiloVolt line in Brgy. Linamon, Ramain, Lanao del Sur was reportedly bombed and toppled in the evening of May 3.
The same tower was bombed on Dec. 24, 2015.
Restoration of the tower took almost three months because uncooperative claimant, the Sambitory family, refused National Grid access to conduct tower repairs.
“This is the 6th bombing of NGCP towers this year. Restoration of Tower 25 will commence as soon as the area is secured,” it said.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada, however, said that on election day, there will be no brownouts in Mindanao due to higher utilization from hydropower plants.
Monsada said the hydropower plants are only utilizing 20 percent at 30 cubic meters per second at present but this will increase to 90 cubic meters per second to 60 percent on election day.
“Mindanao will no longer be negative this election. Demand is not that high because it is a holiday, due to sufficient power,” Monsada said.
The company said that the bombings only serve to increase the burden of the public, which must suffer through service interruptions when towers are bombed.
Mindanao is currently short of 151 MW with system peak at 1,499 MW against capacity of 1,348 MW.
This developed after National Grid energized the crucial Agus 2-Baloi 138kV line after clearing right-of-way obstruction in its bid to ensure uninterrupted delivery of power transmission services particularly during the May 9 national and local elections.
“NGCP is pleased to report that at 7 p.m. of May 3 we have successfully energized the Agus 2-Baloi line after invoking the Comelec Resolution and with the assistance of government and law enforcement agencies during the clearing operations,” the company said.
The company, however, said this is only 1 of 8 lines identified as critical in Mindanao that continue to be plagued by uncooperative land claimants demanding exorbitant amount.
“It is unfortunate that some of these claimants are preventing us from conducting line maintenance activities on the basis of land payment claims properly address to the Nation Transmission Corp. [Transco]. Others demand exorbitant amounts as payment for improvements deliberately built under the lines,” the company said.
“NGCP would have wanted all 8 lines cleared before the elections to fully mitigate any power-related issues,” it said.
“We reiterate our appeal to the public and local community leaders to help us negotiate with difficult landowners, to prevent longer power interruptions and ensure reliable operations, particularly on election day,” it said.
The company thanked its partners from the local government units, and law enforcements agencies PNP and AFP, for their continued support.
National Grid is a privately-owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations, and related assets.
The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country’s power transmission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. led by Henry Sy Jr., Calaca High Power Corp. led by Robert Coyiuto Jr., and the State Grid Corporation of China as technical partner.