Fire at NGCP Hermosa substation after reported line contact

What happened

On 3 August 2024 a fire broke out at the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) substation in Barangay Balsik, Hermosa, Bataan, reported at 4.40 p.m. Initial reports said a DICT contractor hit a 69 kV line owned and operated by Peninsula Electric Cooperative (Penelco) outside the facility, and that the cut line landed on a non-technical structure inside the substation and started the fire. Penelco separately said a truck accidentally contacted the Hermosa-Dinalupihan line along Balsik, cutting a conductor and causing an unscheduled interruption in Dinalupihan and the Hermosa Ecozone, with a fire also affecting a segment of that line.

The fire was reported to have affected NGCP’s Hermosa-Calaguiman 69 kV line, which serves three generation plants in Bataan. Police said the fire, at a warehouse of the substation, was declared out at 6.51 p.m. the same day, and that three construction workers were injured. NGCP said there was no transmission-caused interruption to distribution customers.

Contributing factors

The cause is not settled in the reporting. NGCP’s initial account was contact by a DICT contractor with a Penelco 69 kV line outside the substation. Penelco said a truck made accidental contact with the Hermosa-Dinalupihan line. How those accounts fit together is not reported.

Lessons learned

1. Keep exclusion zones and barriers around live overhead lines during nearby construction or vehicle movements.
2. Have a clear isolation procedure for a conductor that falls onto a substation structure.
3. Share real-time notices between transmission and distribution operators when external damage is reported, including where their accounts of the same event differ.

Source

punto.com.ph