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President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is briefed by Ilocos Norte
Governor Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
on the salient features of the 24.75 megawatt Bangui
Bay Wind Energy Project at Barangay Baruyen, in Bangui,
Ilocos Norte during her visit on February 10, 2007.
The Northwind Bangui Bay project involves the development
and operation of a wind farm consisting of 15 wind
turbines, a switchyard and a control station, and
the construction and operation of a 57-kilometer 69,000
volts overhead transmission line. It is considered
as the first commercial capacity, on-grid wind turbine
farm in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. (Benjamin
Basug — OPS-NIB Photo) |
BANGUI,
Ilocos Norte — The wind energy produced by the Bangui
wind farm translates to a 7 percent reduction in power costs
from prevailing Transco rates or a 5 percent discount of
the weighted average price in the wholesale electricity
spot market (WESM).
The
wind farm uses 30 units, 60-meter high Vestas wind turbines
and arranged on a single row stretching on a three-kilometer
shoreline off Bangui Bay facing the South China Sea.
On
top of reduced power rates, the wind farm will pave the
way for the entry of additional investment opportunities
whose operations depend on good power quality.
Already,
business developers have started discussing potential industries
with the provincial government ranging from glass to cement
plant in eastern Ilocos Norte towns.
It
was Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who, as a congressman
back in the 1990s, pursued aggressively the development
of a power plant in the province.
The
governor had previously disclosed that Ilocos Norte had
let loose potential investors in the past due to poor power
quality.
Marcos
had always complained then from Napocor to do something
about its power service, but to no avail.
At
present, Ilocos Norte is most affected during power outages
because it is found at the end of the power grid coming
all the way from Bauang, La Union.
The
province’s unstable power would force the Coca-Cola
Bottlers’ Company to avoid switching to Inec’s
power line due to low voltage between 5 to 10 p.m.
The
bottling company is one of the few huge power-dependent
companies in the province.
Phase
I of the project will produce 40 percent of Ilocos Norte’s
needs, gradually increasing by 70 percent once Phase II
is completed.
Phase
I of the wind farm’s financial requirement runs to
$23 million with a combined costs of $75 million for the
three-phase project.
The
wind farm project was drawn in 1996 though a wind resource
analysis and mapping study conducted for the Philippines
by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The
study showed that various areas spread in the Philippines
are receptive to wind power installations.
These
areas include Bangui and Burgos towns in Ilocos Norte, Batanes
and Babuyan islands also north of Luzon and the higher interior
terrain of Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Palawan
and eastern Mindanao. (PIA)
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