ELECTRICITY has been restored to Boracay Island and nearby towns after losing access to the grid over the weekend, the Department of Energy (DoE) said on Monday.
In a statement, the DoE said power returned at 2 p.m. on Monday following a brief suspension of restoration work during high tide.
“Power is restored, and our teams remain on site to stabilize the system and complete permanent repairs,” Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin said.
The DoE said the outage started on Sept. 13, when the Nabas-Unidos 69-kV line tripped, resulting in a loss of power to the Unidos-Caticlan-Malay and Unidos-Boracay lines, effectively disconnecting Boracay, Malay, and Buruanga from the grid.
National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and Aklan Electric Cooperative repair teams traced the fault to damaged underground cables near the Caticlan Airport arrival area.
With the approval of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, crews built an 800-meter temporary overhead line along the Caticlan Airport runway perimeter.
Due to high tide, crews had to pause work overnight and resumed operations the next day.
Permanent repairs on the underground cables are underway to harden the system and ensure reliability.
NGCP is undertaking the Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay Transmission Line Project to strengthen Boracay’s power infrastructure and support the island’s growing demand as a tourism and economic hub. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera