Guimaras to rely on wind

GUIMARAS—Guimaras Island is hoping to be fully dependent on power from wind starting next year, the province’s governor said.

Felipe Nava, Guimaras governor, said Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp. will start building 27 windmills before the end of this year and will start operating these next year.

Each of the windmills can produce 2 megawatts of electricity for a total of 54 MW, which would be more than enough for the island’s demand for electricity ranging from 6 to 7 MW.

The 27 windmill units are part of the first phase of an P11-billion private investment that aims to produce 100 MW of wind power from Guimaras, said Danilo Panes, assistant vice president for renewable energy of Trans-Asia.

Panes said the windmills would start operating in the last quarter of 2013.

Surplus power would be supplied to other areas through a submarine cable connecting Guimaras and Iloilo, said Nava.

The 27 windmills, each measuring 80 meters high and 40 meters wide, will be built in the villages of Cabano, Suclaran and M. Chavez in San Lorenzo town.

Trans-Asia’s Panes said the sites were chosen after a four-year study on wind velocity and pattern in Guimaras. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas