Friday, November 4, 2011
AFTER opening the Ambuklao Hydro Electric plant last week in Benguet, SN Aboitiz Power Corp. is eyeing two more hydroelectric plants in Nueva Vizcaya and Quezon provinces.
Emmanuel Rubio, president of SN Aboitiz, said the Nueva Vizcaya project will generate 150 to 180 megawatts (MW), while the project in Quezon will generate 110 to 120 MW.
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The company has just completed the upgrade of the Abuklao hydroelectric plant from 75 MW to 105 MW after decades of non-operation.
Ambuklao is considered a jewel in the hydro business being the top power producer when it opened in the 1950s.
The company is currently expanding the 100-MW Binga hydropower facility to 125 MW also in Benguet.
Rubio said the project in Nueva Vizcaya will be located upstream of the Magat hydroelectric power complex, which is owned and operated by SN Aboitiz.
“Also one of the benefits of that is it will serve as an upstream storage for Magat. So we will be able to impound water when there is significant inflow so we won’t be spilling much water during the wet season in Magat,” Rubio said.
“This is something that should also get noticed by government if it is looking at flood prevention,” he added.
Rubio said SN Aboitiz plans to complete the Nueva Vizcaya facility by 2017.
The project in Quezon will be a multipurpose facility to be developed with the National Irrigation Administration.
The dam component of the Quezon project will provide irrigation to 12,000 hectares of land, he said.
Rubio said the company is also looking at raising the capacity of the 360-MW Magat hydro facility by 90 MW to 450 MW, depending on the economics of the project. (Ma. Elena Catajan)
Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on November 04, 2011.
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