FREELANCER: Brownout Or Blackout, Cadiz’s Rise

Cadiz City has seen a significant increase in economic, commercial and other activities that fuel its engine of growth that subsequently redounds to Cadiznons’ welfare.

Although it remains as a major sugar-producing city, Cadiz has developed other industries that, to a significant extent, lessened its dependence on sugarcane. Its fishery, seafood and overall tourism development undertakings enabled it to level up its attraction to investors.

No doubt, these achievements are just initial results of the efforts of Mayor Salvador “Bading” Escalante and his team. By utilizing business-friendly, innovative and technology-driven policies and programs, the city achieved another milestone in its quest to become an economic success.

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Brownout or blackout, who wants it? Nobody!

The other day at Quinos, there was an argument on which is appropriate to use when referring to a power interruption: brownout or blackout?

One said brownout when you are in the Philippines. Another one said, in the United States where his relatives are currently working, it is a blackout.

The topic shifted to this as the group talked about the perceived frequent power interruptions happening every now and then, not only in Bacolod City but throughout Negros.

Anyway, whether it is brownout or blackout, it’s the same as power interruption – no electricity!

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Here’s what Google says: A brownout and a blackout both involve power interruptions, but they differ in severity. A brownout is a partial reduction in voltage, causing lights to dim and some devices to operate at reduced capacity. A blackout is a complete loss of power, resulting in a complete outage.

Detailed breakdown:

Brownout:

Reduced voltage: The electrical supply is still present, but the voltage is significantly lower than normal.
Partial loss of power: Some devices may still function, but with reduced capacity or efficiency.

Examples: Lights may dim, and appliances like air conditioners might not work as well.

Blackout:

Complete loss of power: There is a total interruption of the electrical supply.

Complete loss of functionality: All electrical devices and appliances will stop working.

Examples: Lights go out, and all electronic devices become unusable.

Key Differences Summarized:

Severity: Blackouts are more severe than brownouts.

Power Availability: Brownouts mean some power is available, while blackouts mean no power is available.

Impact: Blackouts cause a complete shutdown of electrical devices, while brownouts may only cause reduced performance.

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Going back to the perceived frequent power interruptions, there are two types – scheduled and unscheduled.

Scheduled interruptions are primarily due to necessary maintenance works such as repairs and replacements of facilities to avoid longer power outages. Such undertakings are usually being undertaken by the power distribution utilities (DUs) like the electric cooperatives and private DUs. Sometimes it is the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) – the operator of the power lines that bring electricity to DUs, that needs to undertake repairs and maintenance, and it announces in advance the schedule in coordination with the DUs.

Scheduled interruptions are of course being announced in advance, usually days ahead, to enable those to be affected to prepare. When scheduled interruptions are cancelled, they are also announced.

There is always a problem about this, though, because there are distribution utilities like some electric cooperatives that do not give much attention to information dissemination. DUs with massive information drive, on the other hand, are at the mercy of many who also do not care about reading or hearing advisories. Complaints are usually coming from those who miss the announcements, saying they did not know.

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Unscheduled interruptions, on the other hand, can happen anytime, unannounced of course. This is usually due to troubles involving power lines, posts, substation facilities of the DUs or that of NGCP, or trouble with some power plants, due to nature and even tree branches touching power lines, etc.

Just like Tuesday and Wednesday, several power plants were either not operating or producing less electricity, thus interruptions might happen due to supply shortage. Energy officials are looking into these.

While DUs or NGCP have standby crews to immediately respond to restore power as soon as possible in case of trouble, some breakdowns take time to be repaired. Since not all areas can be easily monitored with the present set up, it is vital that those affected by unscheduled power outage must immediately inform the DU.

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In the case of Negros Power that covers the cities of Bago, Bacolod, Talisay and Silay and the towns of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto, the series of scheduled power interruptions are expected as it embarked on a 5-year rehabilitation plan since last year.

The decades-old Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CENECO) was not able to cope with the growing demand for power in its area of coverage primarily because it was, as records showed, prevented to embark on improving and modernizing its facilities through capital expenditures.

When Negros Power took over its facililities, the former saw the need to replace almost all its facilities, thus estimating more than P2 billion for the rehabilitation that will take five years for it to complete considering the scope of its coverage area.

In Iloilo City, it only took its sister company More Power three years because it only involved that city.

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So, what is it for us? What now?

We need to ride on it, with the hope that after years of rehabilitating the power lines, substations and other facilities in Bago, Bacolod, Talisay, Silay, Murcia and DSB, we will have a stable and quality supply of electricity, and fewer and shorter brownouts or blackouts courtesy of Negros Power, duplicating what its sister firm More Power did to Iloilo City.

What we can do for now to minimize the inconvenience of power interruptions is to always check for any scheduled outages, and to also prepare for unscheduled interruptions that could happen anytime in good or bad weather.* (APT)