RP first wind farm starts feeding clean power to Ilocos residents
by Cristina Arzadon
BANGUI, Ilocos Norte (24 June 2005) -- Towering on a strip of shoreline along the Bangui bay here are 15 wind turbines that have started generating "clean power" under the Philippine's first wind farm feeding an initial 7 megawatts, equivalent to 40 percent of Ilocos Norte's power requirement.
Also a first in South East Asia, the Philippine wind power plant is composed of 15 wind turbines with a hub height of 70 meters and 41meter rotor blades having an installed capacity of 25 MW.
"Tapping abundant wind resources in the country's vast coastlines, is a significant stride in an environment-sensitive, clean-and-green energy program for the Philippines," said Niels Jacobsen, NWPDC president and a Danish investor.
The firm's executives led the Philippine government's energy officials, national and local leaders in a ceremonial switch-on Saturday morning at the wind farm site along a 3-km shoreline facing the South China Sea.
The wind turbines, all connected to the Luzon grid, had started delivering power to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative last month.
"As stated in our energy sales agreement, we will extend a 7 percent discount (lower than Transco rates) to Inec. This will reduce the power charges being paid by Ilocos residents," Atty. Ferdinand Dumlao, NWPDC chairman, said.
Dumlao added the firm will put up five units of wind turbines next year which can generate 8 MW to answer 50 percent of Ilocos Norte's power requirement.
The power cooperative, which has a total power requirement of 26 MW, will continue buying its remaining energy demand from Transco.
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos showed up during the affair to throw her support behind her son Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
"I congratulate my son, he always surprises me. He continues to impress me. I think he is following the great steps of his father," Mrs. Marcos said.
"What we need now is energy that is environmentally-friendly. The Philippines has no reason to be poor. We've got it all," the Marcos widow added.
For his part, Governor Marcos said the country's first wind power plant will server as a model for more renewable energy around the Philippines.
"Ilocos Norte has always been at the end of the supply line (when it comes to power delivery). With the operation of this plant, we look forward to being at the other end of the supply line and avoid the difficulties that we had in the past," he said.
The wind farm should have started its commercial operation early this year but bad weather prevented the firm's technical staff from landing their equipment at the Bangui Bay. Majority of the turbine materials were shipped all the way from Denmark.
This wind-swept town was found to be one of three areas in Northern Luzon and of nine other islands and inner corridors across the country that can produce up to 70,000 MW of power.
"The wind is (normally) too strong out here. You don't see it today, but this is one of the very rare days when there is virtually no wind," Jacobsen quipped as the rotor blades made a sluggish swirl.
The wind at Bangui coast blows at a speed of 7 meters per second (mps). A wind mapping study conducted by the United States' National Renewable Energy Laboratory (US NREL) has found Bangui bay as one of the areas across the country where 10,000 square kilometers of windy land have been estimated to exist with good-to excellent wind resource potential.
A re-analysis of the US NREL wind mapping data, conducted jointly by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the University of the Philippines' Solar Laboratory, trimmed down the sites to 7,404 MW potential for the Philippines.
The NWPDC, composed of Filipino and Danish businessmen and engineers, led the way to the setting up of an environmentally friendly and economical source of power in response to the government's call to establish new and renewable sources of energy.
Former Energy Secretary Vince Perez said the Bangui wind farm is a big step towards energy independence while the Philippines is targeting to reach a 60 percent self-sufficiency in energy by 2010 by promoting wind power.
"We are on our way to making the Philippines a leader in wind power (in the Asian region). Let it not be forgotten that the epicenter of that goal started in the sandy shores of Ilocos," Perez said.
After the wind farm in Bangui, 16 other areas will be offered for investment with a total capacity of 345 MW.
The Philippines has been found to have a potential wind power of 76,600 MW leading other wind power producing countries like Germany (14,000 MW potential wind power), Spain and US (6,000 MW each), Denmark (3,000 MW) and India (2,100 MW).
Next to Ilocos Norte, 47 other provinces out of 73 in the country have a 500 MW of wind potential such as Batanes and Babuyan islands, the Northwest tip of Luzon, the higher interior terrain of Luzon and adjacent islands and well exposed East facing coastal location from Northern Luzon and southward to Samar. (PIA Ilocos)
by Cristina Arzadon
BANGUI, Ilocos Norte (24 June 2005) -- Towering on a strip of shoreline along the Bangui bay here are 15 wind turbines that have started generating "clean power" under the Philippine's first wind farm feeding an initial 7 megawatts, equivalent to 40 percent of Ilocos Norte's power requirement.
Also a first in South East Asia, the Philippine wind power plant is composed of 15 wind turbines with a hub height of 70 meters and 41meter rotor blades having an installed capacity of 25 MW.
"Tapping abundant wind resources in the country's vast coastlines, is a significant stride in an environment-sensitive, clean-and-green energy program for the Philippines," said Niels Jacobsen, NWPDC president and a Danish investor.
The firm's executives led the Philippine government's energy officials, national and local leaders in a ceremonial switch-on Saturday morning at the wind farm site along a 3-km shoreline facing the South China Sea.
The wind turbines, all connected to the Luzon grid, had started delivering power to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative last month.
"As stated in our energy sales agreement, we will extend a 7 percent discount (lower than Transco rates) to Inec. This will reduce the power charges being paid by Ilocos residents," Atty. Ferdinand Dumlao, NWPDC chairman, said.
Dumlao added the firm will put up five units of wind turbines next year which can generate 8 MW to answer 50 percent of Ilocos Norte's power requirement.
The power cooperative, which has a total power requirement of 26 MW, will continue buying its remaining energy demand from Transco.
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos showed up during the affair to throw her support behind her son Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
"I congratulate my son, he always surprises me. He continues to impress me. I think he is following the great steps of his father," Mrs. Marcos said.
"What we need now is energy that is environmentally-friendly. The Philippines has no reason to be poor. We've got it all," the Marcos widow added.
For his part, Governor Marcos said the country's first wind power plant will server as a model for more renewable energy around the Philippines.
"Ilocos Norte has always been at the end of the supply line (when it comes to power delivery). With the operation of this plant, we look forward to being at the other end of the supply line and avoid the difficulties that we had in the past," he said.
The wind farm should have started its commercial operation early this year but bad weather prevented the firm's technical staff from landing their equipment at the Bangui Bay. Majority of the turbine materials were shipped all the way from Denmark.
This wind-swept town was found to be one of three areas in Northern Luzon and of nine other islands and inner corridors across the country that can produce up to 70,000 MW of power.
"The wind is (normally) too strong out here. You don't see it today, but this is one of the very rare days when there is virtually no wind," Jacobsen quipped as the rotor blades made a sluggish swirl.
The wind at Bangui coast blows at a speed of 7 meters per second (mps). A wind mapping study conducted by the United States' National Renewable Energy Laboratory (US NREL) has found Bangui bay as one of the areas across the country where 10,000 square kilometers of windy land have been estimated to exist with good-to excellent wind resource potential.
A re-analysis of the US NREL wind mapping data, conducted jointly by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the University of the Philippines' Solar Laboratory, trimmed down the sites to 7,404 MW potential for the Philippines.
The NWPDC, composed of Filipino and Danish businessmen and engineers, led the way to the setting up of an environmentally friendly and economical source of power in response to the government's call to establish new and renewable sources of energy.
Former Energy Secretary Vince Perez said the Bangui wind farm is a big step towards energy independence while the Philippines is targeting to reach a 60 percent self-sufficiency in energy by 2010 by promoting wind power.
"We are on our way to making the Philippines a leader in wind power (in the Asian region). Let it not be forgotten that the epicenter of that goal started in the sandy shores of Ilocos," Perez said.
After the wind farm in Bangui, 16 other areas will be offered for investment with a total capacity of 345 MW.
The Philippines has been found to have a potential wind power of 76,600 MW leading other wind power producing countries like Germany (14,000 MW potential wind power), Spain and US (6,000 MW each), Denmark (3,000 MW) and India (2,100 MW).
Next to Ilocos Norte, 47 other provinces out of 73 in the country have a 500 MW of wind potential such as Batanes and Babuyan islands, the Northwest tip of Luzon, the higher interior terrain of Luzon and adjacent islands and well exposed East facing coastal location from Northern Luzon and southward to Samar. (PIA Ilocos)
