MANILA, Philippines - AboitizPower, the holding company of the Aboitiz Group’s investments in the power sector, is set to begin this year the construction of its hydroelectric power project in the Mountain Province.
AboitizPower subsidiary Hedcor is just waiting for the completion of permitting requirements as well as the certificate of commerciality from the Department of Energy.
The Sabangan hydroelectric power project, which will have a capacity of 14 MW, will be located in Barangays Namatec and Napua and will source power from the Chico River.
It would add to Hedcor’s 19 run-of-river plants across the Philippines, with a total generating capacity of 155MW.
Under the plan, the Tinmakudo ancestral domain and the hosting barangays will have a share in the power plant’s generation output.
“This is on top of other financial benefits that the community will receive under the government mandated Energy Regulation 1-94 (ER 1-94) which they can use to fund electrification, development and livelihood, and reforestation, watershed management, health and environmental enhancement projects,†Hedcor said.
Local landowners will also benefit from rentals for the project’s use of portions of their properties.
Ronquillo said the construction of the new plant could take about 22 months, with hundreds of jobs to be offered to residents of the host communities. Hedcor said that as host to its newest plant, the Mountain Province and its municipality, Sabangan could receive up to P15 million in government and real property taxes.
Qualified residents will also be trained to operate and maintain the power plant, said Hedcor president and chief operating officer Rene Ronquillo. Furthermore, the project will entail the development of around 10 kilometers of access roads that could serve as farm-to-market roads.
Ronquillo said AboitizPower is looking to pursue more projects as it aims to add 100 megawatts of renewable energy from run-of-river power plants by 2016.