Hedcor readies Sabangan hydropower plant

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo announced the opening of a Sabangan, Mountain Province site in March.

Ronquillo said there is but one piece of paper holding back the opening of the hydropower project in the highland town. “We are just waiting for the release of the special land use permits.”

Upon the release of the special permits, construction of the hydropower plant will commence.

Hedcor Inc. plans to construct a 14-megawatt (MW) hydro-electric power plant in this town and hoping construction will proceed this year.

The project, costing P1.8 billion, will have a two-year construction timetable, with completion date in the first quarter of 2015.

Ronquillo said the company continues to look for clean energy all over the province. “We will continue to look for more potential to develop to generate two billion kWh of clean energy by 2020.”

The Sabangan project will be carried out with the name Hedcor Sabangan Inc. and is expected to generate 55 million kilowatt hours of energy in a year.

The company has previously signed a memorandum of agreement with the Indigenous Peoples of barangay Namatec and Napua and the municipality.

This is the first project of Hedcor in the Mountain Province.

The company, specializing in power sustainable development with clean and renewable energy through Run of River, has generated 3,115 gigawatt hours of clean energy since 1985 and manages 10 mini hydropower plants in Benguet province.