P-noy urged: Support Mt Prov wind farm project

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province – President Aquino was urged last week to support installation of a wind farm in this tourist resort and nearby Besao town to boost power resources in the Cordillera.

Phil Carbon chairman and former undersecretary of the Department of Energy engineer RufinoBumasang and PhilCarbon president Ruth Owen made the appeal following initiatives of Phil Carbon to assist a wind farm project atop Pilaw/Pandey ridge with local government units of Sagada and Besao.

In an interview with Radio Sagada, Owen and Bumasang, the latter who is also consultant to international energy firms, shared their intention to support renewable energy programs such as facilitating financing of the proposed project with international financing institutions.

Phil Carbon which had been into development of renewable energy sources for power generation for six years, also engages in carbon credit trading and documentation for eligible projects related to watershed protection and clean air.

In same interview, Owen hopes for the support of communities concerned in the implementation of the proposed wind farm.

If implemented, the windfarm shall generate 15 to 20 megawatts, Bumasang said following a reading by American experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) who, with Bumasang visited Mt Pilaw, also called Pandey to Besao folks.

Bumasang said Japanese experts of Tomen company was interested since 1999 in the project if the local government units (LGUs) of Besao and Sagada would participate as partners and would be the borrowers for the foreign exchange component of the project cost. The winfarm is projected to cost around 25 to 30 million dollars.

Where Mt Province is only using 3 megawatts, it can sell the extra energy units the windfarm generates to electric cooperatives which shall mean income for the host communities of the project, Bumasang said.

In a separate exchange a year ago via Kotimya Eta, a social networking site of Kankanaeys, Bumasang who hails from Besao said that the Besao and Sagada LGUs expressed willingness, but the Philippine National Economic Development Authority pointed out that the LGUs of Besao, Sagada combined were not capable of being the borrowers for the magnitude of the loan needed.

The alternative was for Tomen to finance the project on its own at commercial terms, but the study showed that this option would not be economically viable at that time when there was yet no Renewable Energy Act (RA 9513).

With the passage of the Renewable Energy Act in 2008, financing for renewable forms of energy with financing from other sources like international financing companies such Asian Development Bank (ADB) becomes more facilitative partners.

President Benigno Aquino 111 in his address during the Energy Conference December last year said RA 9513 is “a critical legislation seen to be the missing link in the pursuit for a more aggressive exploration, development, and utilization of the country’s renewable energy resources.”

Towards increased investments in the energy sector, the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) was instituted to achieve a 100%-increase within 20 years. As of March 2010, a total of 205 renewable energy contracts have been awarded to developers on mini hydros, solar, and geothermal energy.

The NREP intends that the country “become the number one geothermal energy producer in the world, to double the country’s hydropower capacity, and to expand the respective contributions of biomass, solar, and ocean energy to the energy mix.”

In same radio interview, public relations officer QuintinPastrana with Chevron Geothermal Philippines said the company has projects in Pasil, Lubuagan and Tinglayan in Kalinga.

The Cordillera which is the watershed cradle of the north has huge prospects of still untapped 3,372 megawatts from renewable sources-wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro power energy.

Currently, the Cordillera uses 208 megawatts with Benguet/Baguio City using the most of 92 megawatts, Mountain Province of 2.9 mw, Kalinga of 3.1 mw, Ifugao of 1.9 mw, and Abra of 7.1 mw, records from NEDA note.

In Mountain Province, 13 mini hydros are found to have hydropower potential in Barlig,Tadian,Natonin, Besao,andBontoc according to studies of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). These are in sitioLias, barangay Silangan in Barlig (two sites – 41 KW and 218 KW); Bontoc Ili in Bontoc (195 KW); sitioBasa, Tamboan in Besao (368 KW); Losad in Sabangan (368 KW); sitioMagaud, Tamboan in Besao (88 KW); Masla in Tadian (261 KW); Lunas in Barlig (56 KW); Ogo-og in Barlig (133 KW); Sumadel in Tadian (5.22 KW); Saliok in Natonin (140 KW); and Bannawel in Natonin (94 KW).

Early this year, the Hydro Electric Development Corporation (Hedcor) partnered with Sabangan LGU in the generation of a 13,200 kilowatt for a run-of- river type energy facility.