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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider First Gen demarcates solar, wind project sites in Nueva Ecija

First Gen demarcates solar, wind project sites in Nueva Ecija

Adjacent to its hydropower complex in Pantabangan

Published Apr 2, 2024 07:57 am

At A Glance

  • First Gen has integrated hydropower facilities in Nueva Ecija – including its 132-megawatt Pantabangan-Masiway hydro, then its newly acquired 165MW Casecnan multi-purpose facility as well as its 120MW Aya pumped storage hydropower project.<br> 

Lopez-led First Gen Corporation will be turning the stretch of its hydropower complex in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija as a ‘mecca of green energy’, with new sites around the area already tagged for its planned solar and wind farm installations that will be amalgamated with battery energy storage system.

According to First Gen Vice President Ricky Carandang, the advancement of these projects to commercial fruition will form part of the 9.0-gigawatt (GW) RE portfolio buildup of the Lopez group.

He explained that the demarcated locations for wind projects “satisfy several criteria - like acceptable wind speeds and proximity to transmission line substation.”

Additionally, Carandang noted that the targeted sites for solar developments “meet their own peculiar criteria, like high irradiance and a flat terrain, aside from proximity to transmission line substations.”

While the RE ventures have yet to take off from drawing board, the First Gen executive has guaranteed that the projects “will have no adverse impact on the environment but will instead complement the operations of First Gen’s hydro plants in the area.”

He primarily emphasized that “in the case of floating solar, they can even help preserve the water resource in the dam by slowing down the process of evaporation.”

First Gen has integrated hydropower facilities in Nueva Ecija – including its 132-megawatt Pantabangan-Masiway hydro, then its newly acquired 165MW Casecnan multi-purpose facility as well as its 120MW Aya pumped storage hydropower project.

First Gen Senior Vice President Dennis Gonzales indicated that the strategic addition of solar and wind as well as BESS in its green energy development track for the area are being underpinned with multiple studies to assess the viability of the targeted installations.

“Those are technologies we are looking at to couple with our hydro projects…there are several studies on-going and we see a timeframe of two to three years for these projects to come into fruition,” he stressed.

In the next six (6) years, First Gen will be growing its pure clean energy portfolio to 13,000 megawatts (13GW) – and more than half or 7.5GW will be coming from greenfield RE projects.

The Lopez firm conveyed that it already lodged corresponding applications with the Department of Energy (DOE) so it can corner warranted RE service contracts for its pipelined projects. 

 

Related Tags

hydropower Department of Energy (DOE) First Gen Corporation solar plants wind farm projects
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