THE 68.8 megawatts (MW) Manolo Fortich Hydro Project of Hedcor Bukidnon Inc. in Santiago, Bukidnon province, is already 90 percent complete and is on track to be inaugurated December this year.
Rody Laguna, project manager of Hedcor Bukidnon Inc., said 5 electric cooperatives have already bagged contracts for power distribution.
The project, is composed of 2 plants, called the Manolo 1 plant which generates 43 MW, and Manolo 2 which generates about 25 MW.
The project will bring Hedcor's total capacity to 129.37 MW for Mindanao only.
"We started the construction last March 2015, so we are about to complete the project, we are now starting the commissioning for the plants, probably by late October and early November, we will start the wet commissioning for the 2 plants," he said.
"These power plants will be connected sa Mindanao grid, distributed sa mga customers na nag-subscribe sa power from Manolo Fortich, and basically all over Mindanao. Depende pud kung kinsa ang interested na electric cooperatives, private utilities na mukuha, because this will be connected to the NGCP transmission lines," he added.
For a year, the hydro powerplant will generate at least 360 Gigawatt hours, depending on the water availability of the area where the plants are situated.
To date, the cost of the project has reached over P12.5 billion, which includes the purchase of the electro-mechanical equipment, such as the turbines and generators, coming from Germany.
Laguna said for over 3 years of the project's construction, there has been no security issues that disrupted the project.
"It's just a proof that we have a good relationship with the community," he added.
Hedcor Inc. is subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corporation, and has been generating clean and renewable energy in the country for 40 years now.