Two more hydroelectric power plants are set to break ground in the mountainous towns of Solsona and Nueva Era courtesy of FDC Utilities Inc., a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corporation.
FDC representatives Engr. Neil Guillen and Mirable May Perez paid a courtesy call on members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Wednesday afternoon to seek their support to the project.
Since 2013, the Department of Energy has identified Madongan 1 and 2 in Nueva Era and Solsona potential sites for run-of-river-type hydroelectric power development projects.
Under an open and competitive selection process, FDC expressed interest to pursue said projects this year.
According to Guillen, FDC is set to develop hydroelectric power plants in the upstream of Madongan 1 with a capacity of 11 megawatts (MW), Madongan 2 with 10.4 MW and 5.9 MW in Solsona river.
Long before the establishment of the first wind farm along the Bangui bay in 2005, Ilocos Norte’s status as the center of renewable energy (RE) started in the 1980s.
Initiated by the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative, the Agua Grande mini-hydro power plant in Pancian and Pasaleng rivers supplies clean and cheap power to more than 17,000 households in Pagudpud and nearby villages in Bangui, Pasuquin and Bacarra towns. The plant has an actual production of 1 megawatt because only two of the five water turbines are running.
Unlike the wind power farms which need a black start power from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to produce and transfer energy to consumers, hydroelectric plants can stand alone and it can be used as a black start power source, Guillen clarified when asked by members of the Ilocos Norte board. (PNA)
