Hi. Please understand that this post is to inform, and not to invalidate feelings of frustration.
Disclaimers: I'm not from Penelco. I'm not from the government. I'm from Bataan, Electrical Engineer, Former Power System Planner working in Manila. Teacher din pala ng engineering and renewable energy consultant (hire me 😂).
All kuryente-related questions are welcome.
This post is driven by the 4-5 hours "emergency interruption" last night affecting the Limay-Balanga Line. We (Penelco may correct me) have three 69kV lines- Mariveles-Limay, Limay-Balanga, and Hermosa-Balanga lines. Not sure saan nakakabit ang Bagac and Morong 😅. This is why yan ang mga apektadong lugar kapag 69kV ang nagkakaroon ng fault.
As usual, galit ang mga tao. Inconvenient naman talaga lalo at oras ng tulog. But what I just want to share is that what happened is an "emergency interruption", unplanned, unexpected. It was a fault that may lead to fire and further equipment/appliances damage kung hindi pinutol at iniayos. Ang response would be #1 detection- saan naputol, saan nagkaproblema, hindi naman as in mano-mano hahanapin kasi may "detectors" (distance relays) naman to estimate the location. Usually hahanapin na lang aling poste associated yung line. #2 deployment of qualified personnel and tools. Maaaring masukal pa sa area so may additional challenges pa yan. #3 repair itself. Highly challenging dahil sa dilim and sa height.
Don't worry linemen are highly trained, pressured by management and by public outrage, and underpaid. So yes, worry pala.
Eh bakit panay "preventive maintenance"? Halos araw-araw. Well, no amount of preventive maintenance can prevent system faults. They happen. Walang iniba sa kahit anong gawin mo sa gulong, hindi maiiwasang mapako at mabutas. All you can do is be prepared and be quick enough for response and repairs. And to me, Penelco is. But it doesn't mean they're perfect.
Bakit hindi tukuyin ang main cause at solusyunan? Walang sweeping "main" cause sa electrical faults. Best they can do is fragment the system or loop it around. Ano yun?
Fragmenting means dagdagan pa ang linya so that when something happens mas kaunting bayan ang apektado. But this has high costs. Like super high. Hindi enough ang binabayad natin sa distribution cost.
Looping means having a "backup line" which means when one breaks, sasaluhin nung kabila. But again, high costs.
May pondo naman sila ah. Yes. But they're also upgrading equipment, lines, naglilipat din sila ng mga posteng tinamaan ng hayop na road widening na wala namang sinilbi. So ayun, doon napupunta ang "investment capex" ni Penelco.
Malaki pa rin binabayad natin. Actually one of the lowest if not the lowest tayo sa buong Pilipinas. You can look it up. And the main culprit is generation cost driven by fuel cost.
Maraming sangay-sangay pa ang topic na ito. I'll gladly answer questions kung meron.
Magalit pa rin kayo. Just be more informed para may direksyon ang galit.
Yun lang. Ktnxbye.