2 hydro plants will boost Luzon grid

Green power provider Alternergy Holdings Corp. aims to complete two hydropower plant projects in Nueva Ecija and Ifugao province to help augment the renewable energy (RE) capacity of the national grid by next year. 

“We have the run-off-river project called Dupinga. And then there is also a project called Kiangan run-off-river hydro,” Alternergy president Gerry Magbanua said in a briefing last week. 

“While we are in the driver’s seat in terms of completing those projects, we are minority shareholders in those,” he said. 

Alternergy has a partnership with Markham Resources Corp., renewable energy company led by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel of the Frabelle group of companies, for the 4.6 megawatts (MW) Dupinga mini hydropower project located in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija.

The parties have jointly created the Dupinga Mini Hydro Corp. (DMHC) to operate the project, which is scheduled to be finished before the end of the year. 

2010 DoE contract

It was awarded the hydropower service contract by the Department of Energy in 2010. The right to further develop the project and utilize the hydro resource was transferred to DMHC in 2017 upon DoE’s approval.

The 17.4-MW Kiangan hydroelectric power project, Alternergy has a tie-up with  Sta Clara International Corp. and Renova Inc. of Japan. It is slated to be completed by next year.  

The project was Renova’s first hydroelectric power project and its first investment in the Philippines. 

Asked if Alternergy is open to tapping more partners for the project, Magbanua said: “At the moment, we’re focused on bringing these projects off the ground because while we like to continue working with partners, sometimes it takes time to put together a group of partners.”

“We don’t want to be distracted, we don’t wanna be dragged by those discussions and so we decided that let’s just do it, implement it by ourselves, and then down the line, maybe there’s an opportunity for us to entertain partnerships now,” he added. 

Alternergy has been investing in the expansion of its clean energy portfolio. It aims to build up to 350 MW of power projects in three to five years.