The towns of La Trinidad and Sablan in Benguet will host a 20-megawatt hydroelectric power plant expected to be operational in less than two years.
Cris Faelnar, senior vice president of Aboitiz Power-Hedcor Inc., said the construction of the hydroelectric plant, dubbed Sablan 1, will start in March and will take 20 months to build.
It is expected to produce an average of 61 million kilowatt-hours per year to the Luzon grid and will increase Aboitiz Power-Hedcor’s electric generation portfolio from La Trinidad to 43MW.
La Trinidad will host the weir (low head dam) while the power plant will be in Sablan.
To date, Aboitiz has 23-MW power capacity – 19MW from the combined Bineng plants – La Trinidad 1 and Bineng 3’s 4.5MW.
Hedcor has other plants in Itogon, Tuba, Bakun, and Sablan; Sabangan in Mountain Province; and Amilongan, Ilocos Sur.
Faelnar said once commissioned, Aboitiz Power-Hedcor commits to give Sablan and La Trinidad P1/kwh of power produced as its share or roughly P610,000 a year of additional revenue for each town.
Hedcor is La Trinidad’s biggest taxpayer.
He said such benefit is over and above the government-mandated real property and business tax, other permits needed to be obtained and beneficiary of its corporate social responsibility.
Local workers will also be prioritized during the power plant’s construction and operation.
La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda, who led the signing of the memorandum of agreement, said the hydroelectric plant is the biggest project in the municipality for this year.
He said the project will possibly bring additional and much bigger income to the town.
“Their presence is essential to the municipality in ensuring development and progress of the town,” he said.
Aboitiz Power signed the MOA with the provincial government and the officials of Sablan town last Jan. 9.
The indigenous peoples’ organizations of both towns have concurred with the project through the free, prior and informed consent process that was approved late last year.
As part of harnessing natural resources as potential sources of alternative energy, the National Electrification Administration, National Power Corporation and the Department of Energy have studied specific mini-hydro potential sites and have lined them up as indicative projects.
The NEA has identified about 1,000 mini-hydro potential sites for development based on its mini-hydro program which began in the 1980s. – PNA
April 20, 2024
