Alternergy plans wind power project expansion

by Myrna Velasco January 22, 2016
http://www.mb.com.ph/alternergy-plans-wind-power-project-expansion/

Pililla, Rizal – Alternergy Philippines Holdings Corporation is embarking on a 72-megawatt wind power project expansion via its targeted site in Sembrano, Laguna, close to the mountain ranges of its existing 54MW Pililla wind facility.

In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural rites of its Pililla wind farm though, Alternergy Philippines president Vincent S. Perez has qualified that they would need to wait for the policy step of the next administration on the feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentive.

He stressed that they would have to ascertain first the viability of the additional renewable energy (RE) projects – whether there would still be next round of FIT or if the Department of Energy (DOE) will be implementing an auction round.

The propounded Sembrano wind farm will beef up the company’s investment portfolio that generally leans on clean energy technologies.

The Pililla wind project was inaugurated this week and serves as jump-off to the company’s expansion of energy capacities moving forward.

The project has 27 wind turbines with generation capacity of 2.0 megawatts each. Technology supplier of the 125-meter tall towers is Spanish firm GAMESA.

The wind farm, which is under corporate vehicle Alternergy Wind One Corporation straddles a 60-hectare property, is a development of that particular technology genre that is closest to Metro Manila.

Total project cost was US$145 million, including equity portion for the project sponsors. Lenders include Banco de Oro, Chinabank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

Perez said this is the first RE project that secured financing on a “non-recourse basis,” entailing then that the banks just anchored their approval on the project’s viability.

Following completion of the Pililla wind turbine installations, the facility became some sort of tourist attraction for the host community, thus, creating fresh round of opportunities for the province.

According to AWOC, the Pililla wind plant successfully commenced commercial operation June 9, 2015 “without any grid constraint or congestion to Metro Manila, the main power load in Luzon.”

The project company sealed an interconnection agreement for the 10-kilometer transmission line that directly connects the facility to the load network of Manila Electric Company.