Aboitiz ramping up hydro energy plants
By Alena Mae S. Flores – November 19, 2017 at 08:17 pm
from manilastandard.net
Aboitiz Power Corp. is expanding its hydro power generation portfolio around the Philippines, with new projects with a combined capacity of 97 megawatts in various stages of development.
Aboitiz Power president and chief operating officer Antonio Moraza said in a statement the company’s expansion of renewable energy portfolio was in line with a balanced mix growth strategy.
“We never stop looking for ways to maximize productions from our RE facilities because we know the role it plays in our overall strategy,” Moraza said.
Aboitiz Power’s subsidiary, SN AboitizPower, has completed commissioning the 8.5-MW Maris Main Canal 1 hydroelectric power plant, with full commercial operation set this month.
The plant re-utilizes the water coming from the 360-MW Magat hydro plant through the re-regulating dam in the downstream river. The water then flows into the Maris Main (South) Irrigation Canal.
Maris hydro is the first greenfield project of SN Aboitiz. It is composed of two units of Kaplan pit type turbines with a capacity of 4.25 MW each. Unit 1 was commissioned on October 24 while Unit 2 started on November 6.
The construction of the $47-million hydro plant, located in Barangay Ambatali in Ramon, Isabela, took about two years.
Aboitiz Power’s run-of-river hydro business unit, Hedcor, meanwhile, signed a civil works contract with UK-based contractor Whessoe for the 19-MW Bineng combined hydro project in Benguet province.
The project, which will increase the combined capacity of the Bineng plants from 5.48 MW to 19 MW, obtained approval from the municipal council of La Trinidad in July this year.
Hedcor’s 69-MW Manolo Fortich project, also a run-of-river hydro, is currently synchronizing to the grid for commercial operations this year or early 2018. Once completed, it will increase Hedcor’s capacity to 185 MW from 22 hydropower plants nationwide.
Moraza said apart from new RE businesses, the company is exploring innovative ways to maximize clean and renewable energy sources.
“If we can maximize the potential to produce more energy from an existing resource, we will do it, and that is what we did with Maris, as well as the binary plant in Makban, and soon in Bineng. And our teams will continue to look at these opportunities, as well as new greenfield renewable projects wherever they are available and viable,” Moraza said.
Aboitiz Power and its partners currently have a total capacity of 787 MW from hydropower generation facilities.
The company also owns the 448-MW Makban Geothermal Power Plant in Laguna and Batangas, and the 234-MW Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant in Albay.
Aboitiz Power, meanwhile, launched its first venture into solar power on Negros island last year.
