Philippines suffers power outages ( June 26, 2001 )

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) - Power outages have hit certain parts of Manila and Luzon island after a 1,100 megawatt coal-fired power plant broke down, the state's National Power Corp said.

In a statement, Napocor said the Sual power plant broke down at 12:31 pm today due to "an instrumentation control problem."

The facility is operated by private firm Mirant Philippines under licence from Napocor.

Napocor said other power plants similarly broke down after the Sual plant breakdown.

"All in all, nearly 1,900 MW was lost in Luzon representing about 30 pct of the total load of the grid," it said.

Napocor ruled out sabotage as a cause for the break down of the plants.

It said it hopes to restore power to affected areas by 6:00 pm.

http://199.97.97.163/IMDS%PMAINTL0%read%/home/content/users/imds/feeds/afx/2001/06/26/AAF/2259-0737-NEW.POL.PHI.UTI.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 26, 2001