Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- July 26, 2019 - 12:00am
NABAS, Aklan ,
Philippines — Yuchengco-led PetroWind Energy Inc. (PWEI) is
expanding its wind farm here by another 14 megawatts, a ranking official said.
The project expansion, estimated to
cost P1.4 billion, will bring the total capacity of the Nabas wind project to a
peak of 50 MW, PWEI executive vice president Francisco Delfin Jr. said in
an interview yesterday.
“We want Nabas 2 to be online or at
least ready for connection to the grid by early 2021,” he said.
The target is dependent on the
completion of the Negros-Panay-Cebu grid project of the National Grid Corp. of
the Philippines (NGCP).
“Based on their schedule, they say
they can accommodate new variable renewable energy plant in the CNP by early
2021 because they’re still strengthening that line to accommodate more variable
renewable energy because there are so many solar plants in Negros,” Delfin said.
To start the project, PWEI is
exploring several options for the expansion project’s off-taker.
The company is looking at a possible
bilateral off-grid power supply contract with Aklan Electric Cooperative
(Akelco), Delfin said.
“One is we’re discussing with Akelco
for a possible bilateral off-grid. We started to introduce the project to
Akelco,” he said.
The firm is also eyeing to secure a
supply contract through the retail competition and open access (RCOA) scheme.
Under RCOA, large electricity
consumers in Luzon and Visayas with an average monthly peak demand of at least
one MW can apply to become a contestable customer in order to have the ability
to choose its own electricity supplier.
The third option is to participate
in the planned renewable energy auction of the Department of Energy (DOE),
Delfin said.
Once PWEI secures the off-taker, the
project company would proceed to bidding and awarding the engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
“If we secure an off-take as early
as maybe fourth quarter of this year, we will award the contracts and hope to
start by the fourth quarter this year. We figure maybe between 16 to 18 months
from the award to commissioning.”
The 36-MW Nabas 1 started commercial
operations in 2015 and is receiving an off-take payment of a feed-in-tariff
(FIT) rate of P7.40 per kilowatt-hour (kwh).
PWEI’s shareholders include
PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PEGC) with 40 percent, Thai firm BCPG Public Co. Ltd
with 40 percent and EEI Power Corp. with 20 percent.
PGEC is the renewable energy holding
company of publicly-listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC), which is part of
the Yuchengco group of companies.
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