Rolling Blackouts in Progress

It's all go since January 6th for a new wave of brownouts and rolling blackouts, or deliberate power cuts designed to reduce the load on NPC's electricity generation system at Bantad Power Plant. “Rolling” because they roll from section to section of the system, so that mass power cuts do not happen.

This confirms that contrary to earlier loud pronouncements made by certain personalities, Marinduque will now struggle anew with the untold effects of such power cuts.

Grid Capability

We have gotten hold of NPC'c Marinduque Grid Capability Report sent to the local electric coop, Marelco. Said report states that the recorded maximum demand for Marinduque is 8,280 kW, the prevailing maximum demand is 7,000 kW and that the grid dependable capacity at present is only 5,500 kW.

NPC's power plant in Boac has current dependable capacity of only 2,500 kW, the power plant in Torrijos with 400 kW, and the power barge 120 in Balanacan with 3,000 kW.

This reflects a power shortage of 1,800 kW. Six-hour(6)power interruptions will occur in various areas in Marinduque with the implementation of a "rotational load curtailment" of 1.5MW supposedly during peak load.

Rolling Blackout Schedule

Marelco, meanwhile, has scheduled the following power interruptions. However, based on past episodes it is evident that unscheduled power outages will still occur anytime without notice:

January 7 and 10 from 5:00pm to 11:00 pm:
Affected areas: From Barangay Mangyan (Mogpog) to Sta. Cruz and Torrijos backbone line & lateral lines.

January 8 and 11 from 5:00pm to 11:00pm:Affected areas: From Brangay Ihatub (Boac) to Gasan and Buenavista backbone line & lateral lines.

January 9 and 12 from 5:00pm to 11:00pm:
Affected areas:
a. Lateral line to Boac Riverside
b. Lateral line to Boac Ilaya.
c. Lateral line to Nepomuceno St. Boac.
d. Lateral line from Brgy. Tampus to Phase portion of Boac Poblacion.
e. Lateral line to Brgy. Capayang to Bintakay, Mogpog.
f. Lateral line to Nangka 1 & 2, Mogpog to Maligaya, Boac.
g. Lateral line to Hightown, Dulong Bayan, Danao, Mampaitan, Mogpog.
h. Phase portion of Mogpog Poblacion.

(An unscheduled outage in Boac occured from 9-12am today. Marelco (through its Irma Los Banos) responded to an inquiry made at around 11am by Ms. Joyce of the Governor's Office, by saying "we don't know what caused it and we don't know how long it will last!)