Several areas in Batangas and Samar await power restoration following the onslaught of Typhoon Jolina.
As of 6PM on Thursday, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that eight transmission lines remain unavailable, affecting customers of the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), the Batangas II Electric Cooperative, and other power distributors.
Among the NGCP facilties affected are the 69-kilovolt (kV) Bay-Calamba line in Laguna; the 69kV Batangas-Mabini, Batangas-Rosario, Batangas-Bauan lines, and the 13.8kV Bolboc-BCWD line, all in Batangas; the 69kV Sta. Rita-Quinapondan and Calbayog-Bliss lines in Samar; and a 230kV line, which was not identified.
Jolina first made landfall in Hernani, Eastern Samar on Monday night.
Meanwhile, MERALCO reported to the Department of Energy that 21 of its circuits were affected due to the tripping of the NGCP’s 230kV New Makban-Batangas line.
This resulted in the isolation of 734 megawatts (MW) from First Gen Corporation’s Avion, San Gabriel, and San Lorenzo gas-fired plants, which eventually led to the power interruptions in parts of Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas.
Jolina was last spotted over the vicinity of Mariveles, Bataan, based on PAGASA’s 8PM bulletin on Thursday, and is on its way to the West Philippine Sea. Mariveles is the location of the 1,336MW GNPower Dinginin and 632MW GNPower Mariveles coal plants.
Prior to that, Jolina’s last landfall was in San Juan, Batangas. Aside from Avion, San Gabriel, and San Lorenzo, Batangas hosts a number of the country’s critical power facilities.