PetroWind eyes to complete Nabas wind farm in 2025

AKLAN, Philippines – Yuchengco-led PetroWind Energy Inc. (PWEI) is set to complete the second phase of its wind project here by 2025, boosting power supply for Boracay and Panay islands.

Straddling the municipalities of Nabas and Malay in Aklan, the Nabas Wind Power Project (NWPP) currently generates 36 megawatts (MW) of clean power.

The project is poised to expand its capacity to 49.2 MW by next year, according to PWEI senior manager Jayson Abaniel.

PWEI completed Nabas-1 in 2015 with the activation of 18 wind turbines, each with a capacity of two MW.

Nabas-2 consisting of six wind turbines with a capacity of 2.2 MW each is currently under development.

Abaniel said PWEI is on track to finish the second phase of the project, with the commissioning of the first three turbines expected to be completed next month.

The remaining three turbines are also slated for completion within 2025, as committed to the Department of Energy.

Financial details of the expansion were not immediately made available.

The full completion of NWPP, Abaniel said, is expected to help meet the growing power needs in Boracay, which accounted for the largest consumer demand in Aklan.

From January to October, the island resort welcomed over 1.7 million tourists, Malay Municipal Tourism Office data showed.

The project is likewise critical to Panay, said to account for around five percent of the island’s energy needs.

Amid NWPP’s ongoing expansion, PWEI is also bullish about the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’ (NGCP) planned grid enhancement in the province that recently secured regulatory approval.

Last month, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved the development of NGCP’s P4.2-billion Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay 138 kilovolt transmission project meant to help bridge power more efficiently in Panay and the Visayas.

“Nabas-2 remains the only new power plant connected to the Panay sub-grid since the island-wide grid outage in January 2024,” Abaniel said.

“PWEI is thus supportive of the government’s grid enhancement project in Aklan, as it will help reduce the risk of generation curtailment of PWEI’s wind farm, resulting in more sustained power generation and the opportunity to continuously supply clean power to the grid,” he said.