PHL's biggest wind farm to be completed by November –EDC
The Philippines will have its largest wind farm once geothermal and renewable energy producer Energy Development Corp. completes the 150-MW Burgos Wind Project in Ilocos Norte by end-November.
"We are targeting to complete the 150-MW [wind farm] by end-November 2014," EDC executive vice president Ernesto Pantangco told GMA News Online in a text message.
Groundbreaking for the Burgos Wind Project took place in April 2013 while the Construction for the initial 87 MW capacity of the wind farm started in June 2013.
The company recently closed a $315-million loan from foreign and local banks for the completion of the wind farm project.
By the time it is completed, the Burgos Wind Project will be the largest wind farm in the Philippines, with a total of 50 large-scale Vestas V90-3.0MW wind turbines and an ancillary plant to be supplied and constructed by global wind turbine manufacturer Vestas.
The project is also one of the largest investments to date in Ilocos Norte as it occupies a 600 hectare site covering three barangays, namely, Saoit, Poblacion and Nagsurot, in Burgos, Ilocos Norte.
Once it starts operations, the project will provide 370 GWh of electricity to power approximately 2 million households, EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco said in a statement.
"We also will displace about 200,000 tons of carbon emissions annually,” he added.
The end-November target is for the company to be the first to avail of the Feed-In-Tariff, which the Department of Energy (DOE) will grant to 200 MW of wind projects on a "first to commission, first served" basis, Tantoco said.
Under the FIT system pursuant to the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, the Energy Regulatory Commission will give guaranteed payments on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour—called FIT rates—for power producers harnessing renewable energy.
"With construction in full swing, we are confident that we will meet our target commissioning date and avail of the Feed-in-Tariff,” Tantoco said.
