By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated December 21, 2015 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) is venturing deeper into the renewable energy sector by
partnering with local firm Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC) to construct
hydropower projects.
In a statement, REDC said it signed
a joint venture agreement with the power distributor to build and develop
mini-hydropower plants using run-of-river resources for renewable and efficient
energy production while minimizing environmental impact.
The partnership marks Meralco’s
foray into mini-hydropower development. Earlier, Meralco president Oscar
S. Reyes said it is pursuing renewable energy projects, which include solar,
wind, run-of-river, other hydro projects and gas.
It plans of spinning off a new unit
for RE investments, a separate entity from the group’s power generating unit
Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen).
As for the partnership, the
REDC-Meralco tie up will lead to a series of ground breaking of mini hydropower
plants starting from the first half of 2016 in select regions.
REDC has over 100-megawatt (MW) of
mini-hydropower projects clustered in Quezon, Camarines Sur, Bukidnon, and
other provinces under development with investments worth $400 million.
Earlier this month, REDC broke
ground in the Rangas mini hydropower project located in Camarines Sur.
It will be followed soon by the
Upper Labayat project in Quezon, scheduled for the first quarter of 2016.
The joint venture, which is set to
have its first set of hydropower plants operational by 2019, will avail of the
Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) scheme mandated by the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.
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