P3-B wind power project faces delay

The PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has moved the commissioning of its wind farm power project in Ilocos to March 2005 from the earlier programmed April 2004, official documents showed.

The documents did not mention the reason for the delay in the commissioning of the first stage of the project. The estimated total cost of the project is P3 billion.

EDC, one of the subsidiaries of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), is presently in the prequalification stage of the project. The bid documents were submitted to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the loan provider for Phase I of the project, for review.

To date, a total of 285 hectares have been leased to EDC for the wind farm. Negotiations for the right-of-way of the 42-kilometer transmission line (230 kilovolt) are almost complete, with 92 percent of the lots to be occupied by the 130 transmission line towers/poles successfully leased and negotiations for easement at 87 percent completion.

The country’s wind power potential was formally investigated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States in 1998. Its publication, the Philippine Wind Atlas, estimated the wind energy potential of the country to be at about 70,000 megawatts (MW).

The NREL report showed that the area with the highest wind energy potential is Ilocos Norte, in the northernmost part of Luzon Island.

NREL’s data on the Ilocos Norte wind profile was substantiated by the wind measurement instruments or meteorological masts that the National Power Corp. (Napocor) installed at various points in the province.

Initial studies indicated that the total aggregate capacity for Ilocos Norte is 120 MW. With all the wind data gathered from different locations, EDC focused its attention on Pagali and Saoit in Burgos town as sites for the Northern Luzon wind power project.

The targeted 42-MW power plant will generate 120 million kilowatthour (kwh) per year. The project is expected to contribute a total of $60 million to $100 million in revenues per year to the national economy. On crude oil importation alone, it can save $6 million annually, aside from the benefits of lower electric costs ($0.05 per kwh) for the consumers.