Petilla pushes for more renewable energy plants

by Freddie G. Lazaro January 10, 2016
http://www.mb.com.ph/petilla-pushes-for-more-renewable-energy-plants/

Vigan City, Ilocos Sur – Liberal Party (LP) senatorial bet Jericho Petilla is pushing for the construction of more renewable energy (RE) plants in the country once he wins in the May 9, 2016 polls.

This was Petilla’s announcement during his short visit here as a guest of honor and speaker in the recent assembly of the employees of all local electric cooperatives in Northern Luzon.

“We want more renewable energy plants in the energy mix in the country in the future to respond to the increasing demand of power supply in the country,” said Petilla, who is the former energy secretary.

He cited the excellent potential source of wind and solar renewable energy plants constructed in Ilocos Norte.

Ilocos Norte had maintained its position as the “home of the largest renewable energy wind farms in Southeast Asia” as it has three big wind farms in the towns of Pagudpud, Burgos and Bangui with aggregated maximum of 283 megawatt capacity of production.

The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) put up 150 MW capacity of Burgos Windfarm Project (BWP); the North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. (NLREC) in Pagudpud province had its 81MW capacity wind farm in Pagudpud town; and the Northwind Energy Corporation had its 52MW capacity wind farm in Bangui.

At least 4.1 MW solar farm capacity of production was built under the wind turbines of the 150 MW wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, which is the site of the world’s first combined solar and wind farms.

Earlier, Director Mario Marasigan of the Philippines’ Renewable Energy Management Bureau under the Department of Energy (DOE) disclosed that it’s only in Burgos, Ilocos Norte where solar panels built under the wind turbines to simultaneously generate power supply can be found.

The construction of these renewable energy farms is part of the goal of the national government to maximize the environment-friendly resources to produce electricity in anticipation of the projected power crisis in the future.

The 150 MW BWP, which has at least 50 wind turbines operating in a 600-hectare forest land covering Barangays Saoit, Poblacion and Nagsurot, all in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, was dubbed as the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia and is expected to produce an estimated 233 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually servicing over a million households. It was said that the BWP will help boost the needed power capacity in the Luzon grid in the next 10 years considering the energy sector’s projected 4.5-percent annual hike in electricity demand.