Friday, November 28, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
Supreme Court orders transfer of transmission line
MASSIVE blackouts threaten to pull the plug on Christmas festivities across Metro Manila after the Supreme Court ordered the removal of a power transmission facility in a posh village in Makati.
Carlito Claudio, National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) vice president for operations, said the company would have to shut down the 230-kilovolt Sucat-Araneta-Balintawak transmission line owing to the High Tribunal’s decision favoring residents of Dasmariñas Village.
This, he said, would have a huge impact on the franchise area of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), as its customers would bear the burden of 12-hour rotating brownouts for a year until a new facility is put in place of the existing one.
“Rotating brownouts will result in lost revenues to Meralco, not to mention the losses to industrial and commercial customers,” he said.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said affected areas would incur two to three hour-long brownouts daily on weekdays should the Sucat-Araneta-Balintawak transmission line be de-energized immediately.
These areas include a major portion of the Bulacan served by Meralco’s Santa Maria, Bocaue and Meycauayan substations; the whole of Caloocan City served by Grace Park substation and the whole of Novaliches served by Novaliches, Bagbaguin and Kay-biga substations; the whole of Malabon and Valenzuela served by Meralco’s Malabon and Malinta substations; most of Manila served by Meralco’s North Port, Tegen, Tutuban and Santa Mesa substations; most of Quezon City served by Meralco’s Diliman, Kamuning, Santa Mesa and Novaliches substations; a portion of Makati Business District, including Rockwell Center served by Meralco’s Rockwell bank 1.
Besides power outages, Meralco customers also would incur higher electricity rates, the TransCo official said. This would result in volatility in prices at the energy spot market, even as the grid is forced to tap state-owned National Power Corp.’ (Napocor) power plants that run on expensive fuel, such as the Limay, Subic and Malaya facilities.
“This is the reason why we need to coordinate closely with Meralco, Napocor and PEMC to mitigate the impact on customers. This is wrong timing as we are nearing the Christmas holidays. We do not want our electricity consumers to suffer at this time of year,” Claudio said.
PEMC or the Philippine Electric Market Corp. runs the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).
In light of this, the TransCo official said the company has asked the High Court to defer the execution of its order up to January 31, 2009 as it organizes contingency measures.
He said that TransCo would need at least a year to put up an alternate underground cable to replace the facility, which is expected to cost up to P1 billion.
In its decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed an order from the Makati Trial Court for TransCo to decommission the Sucat-Araneta-Balintawak transmission line after residents of Barangay Dasmariñas filed a case in 2000 seeking to stop the project. The residents complained of health risks due to electromagnetic radiation.
Napocor began the transmission project in 1996 with the construction of 29 decagon-shaped steel poles or towers 3.4-meters tall to support the overhead high tension cables that stretch from the South Superhighway to the perimeter of Fort Bonifacio, Dasmariñas Village in Makati City to Araneta Avenue in Quezon City.
