PetroWind Energy Inc., a joint venture between CapAsia, EEI Power and PetroGreen Energy Inc., may expand its 36-megawatt Nabas-1 wind power project in Aklan by 14 megawatts.
PetroWind switched on the Nabas-1 wind project on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Senate President Franklin Drilon, Commissioner Patricia Magpale-Asirit of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos and key Aklan officials.
The wind farm sits on a mountainous area in Nabas and Malay towns.
Six months after its successful commissioning in June 2015, the Nabas-1 has been supplying clean and renewable power to the Western Visayas grid. A groundbreaking ceremony of the planned Tourist Center and Viewdeck followed the switch-on.
The wind farm offers new ecotourism and livelihood opportunities for the local government units and host barangays. The Nabas-1 wind project is located near Boracay, the country’s top tourist attraction, where demand for power is accelerating.
PetroWind’s Nabas-1 project is eligible for a P7.40 per kilowatthour feed -in tariff rate under the second wave of installation targets for wind projects.
“This milestone is due not only to the support of the Aklan officials have given to PWEI but also to the professionalism and efficiency that the DoE, ERC, NGCP, PEMC and TransCo showed in their review of Nabas-1,” PetroEnergy Resources Corp. vice president Francisco Delfin Jr. said. PetroGreen is a subsidiary of listed PetroEnergy.
Drilon cited that the Aquino administration and the Senate support for such projects with the “government’s P25 billion investment for rural electrification, almost four times the combined spending of the three previous administrations and by supporting legislations that provide incentives to environmentally compliant energy projects.”
Drilon added “electricity and a strong and stable supply of power were directly related to economic and social development and improve the delivery of public services.”.= He also called for support for similar renewable energy projects that mitigate climate change and reduce the negative impacts to health and the environment.
The P4.5 billion Nabas-1 project, the biggest renewable and clean energy facility to date in Panay, is the first wind power venture of PetroWind.
The Nabas facility is comprised of 18 wind turbine generators made by Gamesa Eolica S.L. Unipersonal of Spain.
Each turbine, 78 meters in height, has a capacity of 2 MW.
