Pure Energy starts construction of Quezon mini-hydro facilities

MANILA, Philippines - Pure Energy Holdings Corp. and its partners have started the construction of two mini-hydropower plants that will augment clean power supply by three megawatts (MW) in Real, Quezon.

Pure Energy  subsidiaries Blue Energy Holdings and Management Corp. and Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC) have formed a consortium with Giga United Power and Willy N. Ocier for the P660-million mini-hydropower plants.

The group started work on the access roads while full construction will start in June.

The Lower Labayat and Upper Tignoan mini-hydropower plants will have 1.4 MW and 1.5 MW installed capacities, respectively.

“After years of pre-development work, we look forward to starting the construction phase of our two mini-hydro projects in Quezon province. These power plants will harness our abundant river waters to generate electricity in a clean and sustainable manner,” Blue Energy president and CEO Christopher Tiu said.

“Furthermore, we expect to generate more than 400 jobs through these projects,” Tiu added.

The two mini-hydropower plants will power up around 7,000 households and will generate almost 17 gigawatt-hours annually.

The plants are expected to deliver an average 65 percent plant capacity year-round upon completion.

Once completed in 2019, the consortium will apply for the feed-in-tariff (FiT) rate of P5.90 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for run-of-river mini-hydropower.

The Lower Labayat project will connect to REDC’s Labayat 1 hydropower plant, sharing the same transmission lines and access roads, while the Upper Tignoan project will connect to the REDC switchyard nearby. 

After these two mini-hydropower plants, REDC will be groundbreaking its three-MW Lalawinan run-of-river hydropower plant with joint venture partner Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) within the month.

The Lalawinan project, which is its second project with Meralco, is also located in Quezon.

It was in December 2015 when Meralco and REDC forged a partnership to build and develop mini-hydropower plants using run-of-river resources.

Earlier this year, Pure Energy announced it plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) this year, targeting to raise P1.5 billion for the development of hydropower projects.

It is eyeing to have a 500 MW of total capacity in five years with a basket of renewable energy projects such as hydropower wind, solar and biomass investments.