First Gen eyes new sites for RE projects in Nueva Ecija
By Alena Mae S. Flores – April 3, 2024, 7:50 pm
from manilastandard.net
Clean energy provider First Gen Corp. said Tuesday it identified several areas around its hydroelectric power plant complex in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija as potential sites for developing solar plants, wind farms and battery energy storage system (BESS).
First Gen vice president Ricky Carandang said in a statement developing these additional renewable energy (RE) projects forms part of the company’s program to grow its RE portfolio capacity to 9,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 from 1,500 MW at present.
“Sites under consideration in Pantabangan for wind projects satisfy several criteria, like acceptable wind speeds and proximity to transmission line substations; while locations under consideration for solar farms meet their own peculiar criteria, like high irradiance and a flat terrain, aside from proximity to transmission line substations,” Carandang said.
“The projects also will have no adverse impact on the environment but will instead complement the operations of First Gen’s hydro plants in the area. In the case of floating solar, they can even help preserve the water resource in the dam by slowing down the process of evaporation,” he said.
First Gen senior vice president Dennis Gonzales said the company was studying areas near the existing 132-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plant and its newly acquired 165-MW Casecnan hydroelectric power plant.
“Those are technologies we are looking at to couple with our hydro projects. There are several studies on-going, and we see a timeframe of two to three years for these projects to come into fruition,” Gonzales said.
First Gen filed with the Department of Energy the corresponding applications for renewable energy service contracts for the wind projects, while studies are ongoing to confirm the viability in the locations of both ground-mounted and floating solar farms and BESS projects.
First Gen is also set to develop a pumped-storage hydroelectric project at the Aya Dam, also located within the Pantabangan-Casecnan complex.
The facility, estimated to cost P6 billion, is expected to generate between 100 MW to 120 MW of electricity. Once First Gen secures all regulatory approvals, it will proceed with construction that will take about 36 months.
