North Luzon to expand wind facility by 69MW

North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. is readying a 69-megawatt expansion of its wind farm in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, to bring the facility’s electricity generating capacity to 150 MW.

Eric Francia, president and chief executive of the Ayala group’s AC Energy Holdings Inc., which operates the wind facility, said in an interview the company had an application for a service contract pending with the Department of Energy.

“We’re working on that [and] we want to be on ‘push-button’ mode by the time policies intended to help make renewable energy play out in a competitive ecosystem for the domestic industry [are in place],” Francia said.

He was referring to the planned renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which would see renewable energy as a major source of daily power supply.

“We are completing all pre-development work and hopefully it (the planned project) will dovetail with the period when RPS is already being implemented,” Francia told reporters.

AC Energy operates the existing 81-MW wind facility in Pagudpud, which is under a joint venture with UPC Philippines, Mitsubishi Corp.’s Diamond Generating Asia Ltd. and Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure Fund.

North Luzon Renewables uses 27 units of wind turbines supplied by Siemens, each with a capacity to generate 3 MW of power.

Francia said the Ayala group was making significant investments in the energy sector, committing around $1 billion in equity in related projects.

Earlier, he said AC Energy was actively seeking opportunities to expand its business in Southeast Asia after starting two projects in Indonesia.

AC Energy, through a consortium with Jakarta-based Star Energy group and Thai firm EGCO, won the bid for Chevron Global Energy Inc.’s geothermal asset and operations in Indonesia in December 2016.

The company has also started construction of a 75-megawatt wind farm in Sidrap, Sulawesi, which is Indonesia’s first commercial wind farm.

Francia said AC Energy planned to expand in Indonesia beyond these two assets by working with existing partners to pursue expansion and greenfield projects, as well as pursue market opportunities within the region.