Ayala-led ACEN Corporation has inked a deal with European industrial giant Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Technology (SGRE) for the procurement of wind turbines to be deployed to its 70-megawatt wind farm project in Ilocos Norte.

According to the Ayala company, Siemens Gamesa will supply and install 14 units of wind turbines for the construction of the wind farm project that is sited in Caparispisan, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

The wind farm facility will command an investment of P6 billion and is slated to deliver electricity to the grid by 2024, in accordance with ACEN’s commitment to the government.

The wind farm venture, to be implemented via ACEN subsidiary-corporate vehicle Amihan Renewable Energy Corporation (Capa Wind), will already be the fourth project of the Ayala group on this sphere of technology installation.

Its earlier wind farm developments in the country had been the 81 MW North Luzon Renewables; the 52 MW NorthWind and the 160 MW Pagudpud Wind – which are all sited in Ilocos Norte.

In particular, Capa Wind is a wholly owned subsidiary of North Luzon Renewables, a joint venture between ACEN and Diamond Generating Asia, Limited, the power investment arm of Japanese firm Mitsubishi Corporation for the Southeast Asian energy market.

The off-take (capacity purchase) for the generated electricity of Capa Wind is already assured, as the project previously won a 20-year power supply agreement (PSA) in the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) administered by the Department of Energy.

The tariff for the wind plant’s generation had been fixed at P3.8583 per kilowatt hour (kWh); and the injection of its capacity shall be channeled through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

“The 70 MW wind farm will generate and supply clean power to more than 60,000 homes per year, and provide over 300 local jobs during its construction stage,” the Ayala firm stressed.

At the facility’s completion, it was indicated that the wind power plant would be able to generate 220 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of green energy annually – and that will redound to the elimination of more than 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on a yearly basis.

“The 70 MW Capa Wind project will help deliver ACEN’s supply commitments secured under the first round of the DOE’s Green Energy Auction Program held in June this year,” the company reiterated.

ACEN said its continuing investments on the renewable energy (RE) space is in support of the country’s energy transition agenda, which primarily targets to hike the share of RE in the energy mix to 35-percent by 2030; and 50-percent by 2040.