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Regulator approves NorthWind proposal to sell wind farm output

Monday, 02 February 2009 01:10

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has given the go signal to NorthWind Power Development Corp. to sell the output of its wind farm.

In a decision, the regulator issued a Certificate of Compliance (COC) to NorthWind for the second phase of its 33-megawatt wind farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte.

The COC covers production from the additional 8.25 megawatts produced by five wind power generating sets added to the Bangui project and commissioned late last year.

The Bangui wind farm is the first renewable energy project utilizing the said resource in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

It supplies part of the electricity requirements of Ilocos Norte through the distribution utility Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (INEC).

The COC will allow NorthWind to sell electricity to distribution utilities, suppliers, end-users or the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

The first phase of the project, which had a capacity of 24.75 megawatts, received its COC from the regulator on June 15, 2005.
Zenaida Cruz-Ducut, ERC chairperson, said the second phase of the project would not only help the environment but also provide savings to consumers served by the renewable energy firm.

Consumers served by INEC alone enjoyed savings of $2.54 million in 2006 and 2007 because the wind farm was embedded in the utility’s grid and thus negated the power delivery charges of the National Transmission Corp.

“The electricity that NorthWind generates will displace green house gas emissions such as carbon dioxide by approximately 65,000 tons per year,” Ducut said.