Mindanao black out 'very rare occurrence, highly technical' - NGCP

COTABATO CITY - The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines today said ittraced what triggered a seven-hour Mindanao-wide power blackout on Easter Sunday, a state news agencyreported.The Philippine News Agency quoted Beth Ladaga of NGCP's corporate and public affairs thatoperations of the local electric cooperatives and power distribution utilities in Mindanao are now normalized.She said power transmission is now back in Mindanao after all NGCP substations and power plants connected to backbone lines in Mindanao were synchronized to the grid as of 7:50 a.m. Sunday.NGCP initially reported that the trip-off occurred in Agus 6 and Agus 7, major hydropower sources in Mindanao, affecting a major backbone grid that sent the entire Mindanao into an unscheduled blackout Easter Sunday morning.Ladaga said that the NGCP is still determining the cause of the trip-off earlier described as a very rare occurrence” and highly technical.The NGCP initially discounted terror” attacks on major towers that connect the backbone grid, which distributes electricity to major cities in the Northern, Western, and Southern Mindanao.