Nueva Ecija seen as hydropower capital of PH

RIZAL, Nueva Ecija—The government is eyeing Nueva Ecija province as the country’s capital for mini-hydropower plants, as the Philippine National Oil Co. Renewables Corp. (PNOCRC) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) join hands to establish small plants along the irrigation agency’s main canals here.

On Friday, PNOCRC and NIA officials launched a P90-million, 1-megawatt hydropower plant project at a section of Pampanga River Irrigation System’s main canal in Barangay Poblacion West here.

“This water might have been crying in silence for over 20 years, saying it can light up your residences at night while providing irrigation to your plants,” said Carlos Jose Gatmaitan, PNOCRC president.

He said the PNOCRC would continue to look for more spots suited for hydropower generation. “While we are building this hydropower plant, our personnel are continuously looking for new sites where we can put up our turbines,” he said.

Gatmaitan said six sites had been identified for these new hydropower plants. One of these projects is the 500-kilowatt hydropower plant to be built along the Super Diversion canal of the NIA in the Science City of Muñoz. The project is expected to start in the third quarter of this year.

Benefits

The PNOCRC said these projects were aimed at harnessing hydropower from irrigation systems. The canal gates in Barangay (village) Poblacion West in this town will serve as diversion for a penstock that will deliver water to two 500-MW turbines in the power plant.

The project is expected to be commissioned in May 2015 and will benefit the community through a power sales agreement with the Talavera town-based Nueva Ecija Electric Cooperative II (Neeco II).

Reynaldo Villanueva, president of Neeco II, said the cooperative would buy electricity produced by the Rizal plant at P4 per kilowatt-hour.

Mayor Rafaelito Andres said local officials and residents were hoping that the hydropower plant would boost the economy of this second-class town (average annual income of P45 million to P55 million), located along the Sierra Madre mountain range and some 170 kilometers from Metro Manila.

“[Through this project], we will have lower electricity rates and we will be able to energize the whole town,” he said.

The NIA said the agency would generate P700,000 in annual revenue from the power plant that would be used to improve irrigation and other agricultural services that would benefit the farmers of Rizal. Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon