FEW years from now, Camarines Sur will have an additional power supply after a mini-hydropower plant is set to rise in Goa town.
The 1.5-megawatt (MW) Rangas mini-hydropower plant is scheduled to be completed on 2018.
A consortium composed of Mega Renewable Power Development, Viscal Development Corp., Brightvale Ventures, Greentech Asia, Ormin Power, and Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC), led the ground breaking ceremony on Friday, December 4.
The mini-hydropower plant is set to produce 10 gigawatt-hours of energy annually, allowing the franchise area of Camarines Sur IV Electric Cooperative (Casureco IV) to gain direct access to clean and sustainable energy.
The power plant also allows Casureco IV to save; as it will purchase power directly from the consortium at a reduced rate of P5.75 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) as compared to buying it at the government regulated Feed-in-Tariff rate of 5.90/kwh.
“As it is Repower’s mission to address the power outages around the country by supplying renewable energy, we have committed to reinvest part of our profit from the 1.5 MW Rangas mini hydropower plantback to said electric cooperative. With this, Casureco IV can improve their services to their consumers,” REDC chief executive Dexter Y. Tiu said.
Casureco IV is officially registered and categorized as a large electric cooperative by the National Electrification Administration.
Casureco IV provides service power to nine municipalities with 258 barangays in the Camarines Sur’s fourth district.
“We have worked on this project since 2009, the permitting process takes forever. It’s about time we commence construction and start generating power in the next 30 months,” Benson Lao, Mega Renewable Power Development chairman, said.
“This power generation project will benefit the consumers of Casureco IV. While its output may not be enough for the whole franchise area, it will provide for some reliability in cases when the National Grid fails,” Lao added. (PR)