TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) — At the current rate that Bohol Electric Cooperative I (BOHECO 1) is fixing its storm-damaged lateral lines and re-tapping drop wire lines to household subscribers, its catchment area would have been fully reconnected before the fiesta season comes.
At least this is what BOHECO 1 shared in its Bayanihan in Action: The Super Typhoon Odette Power Restoration Efforts, some 102 days after typhoon Odette.
By April 30 at least, BOHECO said all its lateral lines should have been up and energized or receiving power which has already been available as of February 9.
And if by that time, households have been inspected by an accredited electrician and are certified to receive the supply, then, BOHECO could then tap and get the house ready for the fiesta month of May.
That said, those needing to get the power supply, should have re-erected their fallen drop wire posts, restrung the loosened cables and called an electrician to prepare the certification by now.
In its report on March 28, 2022, the distribution utility that services the power distribution to 26 of Bohol’s 47 towns and a city, the power cooperative reported 65% restoration of its damaged poles, which were either snapped in two or simply pushed out of shape to merit technical restoration.
BOHECO 1 declared some 4,991 poles damaged when the typhoon Odette ravished the service area despite the eye of the storm largely hitting the northeastern part of the island.
As of March 28, a total of 3,262 poles were restored out of 4,991 damaged poles, BOHECO in a press release said.
As early as 5 PM on December 16, 2021, BOHECO 1 was cut off the grid when the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) shut down the 128 kilovolt line supplying Bohol from Leyte due to a technical trouble in the submarine cable receiving station in President Carlos P. Garcia.
A few hours later, its special towers that string the high voltage lines from Leyte, crashed in the face of gale force winds brought by the typhoon.
This covered the entire island in darkness, as the winds howled into the night.
The day after the storm, BOHECO geared up clearing and immediate restoration over lines that can be critical in supplying poser to its substations, when such power is available.
A few weeks later, using the temporary power supplied by a standby power barge in Ubay, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) supplied temporary power through its backbone lines, which were fixed in record time.
This allowed Bohol based distribution utilities to start reconnecting households, making power available in key industries and some homes.
By February 9, breaking yet another record, NGCP completed the erection of temporary emergency restoration systems which allowed the cheaper Leyte power to come in.
Meanwhile, local distribution utilities looked into their backbone lines, which could bring in power to its lateral lines to the barangays.
To date, according to BEHECO 1, the rehabilitation of their lateral lines is at 61% with 2,723 repaired out of 4,452 which gave in during the storm’s fiercest winds.
As this happened, we have increased our energized connections to 60% or 94,195 out of 157,060 consumer connections, which is also the net of the 28,395 household connections that are fully damaged and can not be connected yet, BOHECO 1 revealed. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
