6 firms eye hydropower projects in Laguna Lake

By Lenie Lectura – July 16, 2017

from Business Mirror

The Department of Energy has received interests from six firms that want to put up pumped storage hydropower projects in Laguna.

Mario Marasigan, director of Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said Laguna de Bay could host five to six power projects at 400 megawatts (MW) to 600  MW each. The project cost is estimated at $2.5 million per MW.

“Right now, we have accepted six proposals, that means SC [service contract] applications over Laguna Lake. All of these projects would be pumped storage using Laguna Lake,” Marasigan said.

Two of the six proposals are from Trans Asia Renewable Corp. and Citicore Power Inc., he added.

Marasigan said the proposed project scope would depend on the result of the feasibility studies. “The range of the power capacity of each project would depend on their respective feasibility studies. But, at the end of the day, is there sufficient water from the Laguna Lake?”

Citicore Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Head Rio Balaba said the company is still in the predevelopment stage for various SCs for its planned pumped-storage hydropower projects with a total capacity of  2,300 MW.

“We previously disclosed 2,300 MW of combined capacity, covered by five SCs. We’re still at predevelopment stage and still in our TWG [technical working group] within Citicore. We are given five years for the predevelopment stage,” Balaba said.

A service contract authorizes a power-generation company to proceed with the predevelopment stage of the proposed projects, which include permitting and the conduct of various studies.

The company is aiming to be one of the leading players in the renewable energy sector. Its planned 2,300 MW of hydropower capacity is expected to be generated from five plants, which are scattered across Southern Luzon.