BURGOS, Ilocos Norte, Nov. 12 (PNA) — A lawmaker from the second district of Oriental Mindoro has lauded the operation of Ilocos wind power project, with the recent commission of the 150-megawatt (MW) Burgos wind project, which solidifies the reputation of Ilocos Norte as the home renewable energy in Southeast Asia.
In a project briefing held at the conference room of the Burgos wind power plant on Monday, Rep. Reynaldo Umali, in his capacity as chairperson of the Committee on Energy, said renewable energy is the way to the future.
“Anything indigenous is better. Renewable energy is the way to go. You are on right track,” he told management of the Lopez-led Energy Development Corporation, which is set to invest more on indigenous power sources such as to have another 200-300 MW of renewable energy source in Ilocos Norte or a total of 700 MW nationwide in the next three years.
To date, EDC has an existing 14 projects, 10 of which are now with approved service contracts.
“This is a worthwhile experience kasi nakikita ko lang ‘to sa Europe in Germany, Netherlands, Amsterdam but now it’s happening in the Philippines. This is really something that we should have done a long time ago,” Umali said as he expressed hopes the development of more renewable energy sources will alleviate the looming power crisis in 2015.
“With this, it raises my level of comfort that we will not have any brownout next year,” said Umali as he visited the wind power project in Burgos on Monday.
According to him, other independent power producers are now exploring Mindoro for possible expansion of the wind project.
During the peak wind season from October to April, EDC said it can deliver up to a maximum of 80 percent to the grid or about 30-40-MW during the low season.
“The Burgos wind project when it runs full on a good year, we can generate about 3 billion pesos revenue, of course we have to remove our costs payments to the banks. On a bad year, it will generate about 2.5 billion pesos in a year,” said Richard Tantoco, president and chief operating officer of EDC.(PNA)