The development, in partnership with the Austrian hydropower technology Gugler Water Turbines GMBH, dealt over a memorandum of agreement, is eyeing developing seawater pump storage generation facilities throughout the Philippines
The Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC) announced on Monday that they have been granted by the Department of Energy (DoE) a hydropower service contract to develop and build a hydropower system in the municipality of Real in Quezon Province.
In a report to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the renewable energy developer and a subsidiary of Pure Energy Holdings Corporation said the proposed project is a 320-megawatt (MW) seawater-pumped storage hydropower facility.
The development, in partnership with the Austrian hydropower technology Gugler Water Turbines GMBH, dealt over a memorandum of agreement (MoA), is eyeing developing seawater pump storage generation facilities throughout the Philippines.
First project in Luzon
Following the MoA, the first project will be in an area within Luzon.
“The elevation of this project will be around 300 meters above sea level, and the lower reservoir will utilize the coastline for unlimited seawater intake,” REDC statement read, noting that they will shoulder the funding of its pre-feasibility and initial activities, which they said will be from their internally generated funds.
“The development of a seawater pumped storage hydropower facility in Real, Quezon shall be the first of its kind in the Philippines, thus allowing the company to be a pioneering force in this particular area of clean energy,” REDC president and chief executive officer Eric Peter Roxas said.
According to International Water Power and Dam Construction, the world’s first seawater-pumped storage powerplant was completed in Japan in March 1999 and was called the Okinawa Yambaru station.
It is said to have a maximum output of 30 MW, a maximum operating head of 152 meters, and a maximum discharge of 26 cubic meters per second.
