New Ilocos wind farm ready by Q4

Manila Standard Today
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Feb. 24, 2014 at 12:01am

Energy Development Corp. of the Lopez Group of Companies expects to commission the 87-megawatt Burgos wind project, the largest in the Philippines, by the last quarter of the year.

The $300-million Burgos wind project can generate about 233 gigawatthours of electricity a year once operational, enough to power more than a million households and augment the Luzon grid’s dependable capacity.

The Luzon grid will need an additional 4,200 MW of power in the next 10 years.

EDC said the Burgos wind project in Ilocos Norte achieved 1,044,043 safe work hours without a lost time incident on Feb. 2, 2014, after eight months of full construction.

“Our strict adherence to the highest safety standards, the dedication of our safety team in ensuring compliance, and making safety a way of life not only for our employees but also for our contractors led to the achievement of this milestone,” EDC president Richard Tantoco said in a statement.

The wind farm, located on a 600-hectare site covering the barangays of Saoit, Poblacion and Nagsurot in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, will power Vestas V90-3.0-MW wind turbines to be supplied and constructed by Vestas Wind Systems AS of Denmark.

The project includes a 115-kV transmission line connecting the wind farm from the Burgos substation to the Laoag substation of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and an expansion of the switchyard/substations.

EDC plans to increase the capacity of the Burgos wind project to 150 MW.

EDC said it was certain of the resource capacity in the Burgos area after over seven years of accurate wind data.

“We are on track for completion this fourth quarter of 2014… The progress of our project is substantial and very impressive. We are laying all the groundwork for the expansion and have been moving ahead,” Tantoco said earlier.

The Energy Department granted the project a certificate of confirmation of commerciality on May 16, 2013.

“EDC is focused on clean energy. We have geothermal and hydro generation and with Burgos, the three technology platform will be complete. Now that we have honed our skills to develop a viable wind project, we intend to add an additional 21 units of 3-MW wind turbine generators to bring Burgos wind project’s capacity up to 150 MW,” Tantoco said.  source