Nabas, Aklan”•PetroWind Energy Inc., the wind power arm of publicly-listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp., plans to invest P1.4 billion to expand the output of Nabas Wind Farm in this town.
The company said it would expand the 36-megawatt wind facility by another 14 MW with completion targeted by early 2021.
“It will be dependent on NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines] when will they be allowing more variable renewable energy plants in the Negros-Panay-Cebu grid,” PetroWind executive vice president Francisco Delfin Jr. said.
“Based on their schedule, they say that they can accommodate new variable renewable energy plant in the CNP by early 2021 because they’re still strengthening that line to accommodate more variable renewable energy because there were so many solar plants in Negros,” Delfin said.
The construction of the 14-MW Nabas 2, which will involve seven turbines, will take 16 to 18 months from the award to commissioning, according to Delfin.
The first 36-MW wind project started commercial operations in June 2015 and was built at a cost of P4.6 billion.
Delfin said the expansion project would also depend on whether the company could secure an offtaker or buyer of the additional capacity.
“We want Nabas 2 to be online or at least ready for connection to the grid by early 2021. Our target is hopefully if we are able to secure the offtake, we should aim to award the major contracts by the fourth quarter of this year,” he said.
Defin said PetroWind was looking at several options for offtake such as bilateral contracts or power supply agreement, retail electricity supply contracts and renewable energy portfolio market.
He said talks were ongoing with Aklan Electric Cooperative for a possible bilateral contract.
“We’re discussing with Akelco for a possible bilateral [agreement]…With the clean-up [order] by the President of Boracay, the positive effect is many hotels and establishments are going back to Akelco, rather than running own gen sets. Our proposition to them is to source supply from Nabas 2, not only to stabilize Akelco distribution sourced within the area but also promote investments, jobs and taxes compared to outside of Aklan. We believe there is a market for additional power supply, “ he said.
He said foreign tourists are now more conscious of sustainability and resorts utilizing green power from PetroWind would get a boost for their marketing efforts.