Ambuklao hydro plant resumes full operations

Manila Standard Today
by Alena Mae S. Flores


BOKOD, Benguet—SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet will fully resume operation of the Ambuklao hydroelectric power plant today after being shut down for 13 years.


“The inauguration of the Ambuklao plant’s new 105-MW capacity will make available clean and renewable energy to millions of Filipinos in the Luzon Grid,” SNAP-Benguet said in a statement.


SNAP-Benguet successfully commissioned the first two 35-MW units of the Ambuklao plant on June 1. The remaining unit will go on full operation today.


SNAP-Benguet acquired the original 75-MW Ambuklao and 100-MW Binga hydroelectric power plants in the Bokod and Itogon, respectively, in 2008.


The plants were considered among the first large hydroelectric power plants of National Power Corp. when they were constructed in the 1950s.


“When we took over the Ambuklao plant in 2008, it had been shut down and under preservation by Napocor for close to 9 years [since 1999] due to technical problems sustained after a major earthquake in 1990,” the company said.


“Several attempts were made by Napocor to restore the capacity of the plant prior to our acquisition, to no avail,” it said.


SNAP-Benguet decided to rehabilitate the Ambuklao plant and make it operational again.


SNAP-Benguet, the joint venture of SN Power (majority owned by Statkraft of Norway, the leading renewable energy provider in Europe) and Aboitiz Power Corp., infused $280 million, in addition to the $325-million purchase price, to embark on the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the Ambuklao and Binga plants.