President Marcos inaugurates 160-MW wind farm in Ilocos Norte

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos inaugurated yesterday the 160-megawatt Pagudpud Wind Farm in his home province of Ilocos Norte as the government continues to look for additional sources of renewable energy.

A project of ACEN – the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group – the Pagudpud Wind Farm is currently considered the largest of its kind in the country, comprising 32 wind turbine generators capable of producing five megawatts each. It is projected to power over 123,000 homes and avoid around 340,000 metric tons of carbon emission annually.

“And we’re looking at all these new technologies. We continue to work on all of the sources of renewable… As I mentioned solar briefly, we are looking at improving the geothermal, our dams, maybe we can expand the hydrothermal power we get there. We are also looking at nuclear power,” the President said.

Marcos said the government is studying the latest technology with regard to nuclear power operations.

“Don’t be nervous. We will make sure that all of that will be safe and there will be no – we will not have (accidents) we hear about Fukushima, Three Mile Island,” he said, referring to two of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. “That’s old technology that will not happen anymore. So we will make sure of all that.”

The P11.8-billion Pagudpud Wind Farm is ACEN’s third wind development in Ilocos Norte, along with the 52-MW North Wind Power project in neighboring Bangui town and the 81-MW North Luzon Renewables project also in Pagudpud.

“We see this facility as a critical contribution to further securing the increasing power requirement of the Luzon grid. We are happy to be able to complete the first phase of this power plant,” Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.

“This facility is part and parcel of ACEN and Ayala’s commitment to help build a modern and sustainable Philippine economy through the best technologies that the world has to offer,” he added.

The first phase of the project consisting of 80 MW has been completed in the first quarter, with the full 160 MW eyed to be finished no later than December 2025 for delivery under the Green Energy Auction Program of the Department of Energy.

Marcos also talked about clean energy, recounting that some officers of big mining companies have told him that one of the requirements of buyers is the use of clean energy in their production. – Helen Flores, Richmond Mercurio