PetroWind Energy Inc. (PWEI) said over the weekend its 13.2-megawatt Nabas wind power project in Aklan province (Phase-2) secured approval for energization, a step towards eventual commercial operations.
The Independent Energy Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) approved the registration of the Phase-2 wind facility with the Wholesale Energy Spot Market (WESM), the trading floor of electricity.
“This WESM registration approval authorizes Phase-2 as an additional facility of PWEI. This came after the successful testing by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) of the facility’s metering equipment last February and the SCADA testing this March by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP),” PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC) assistant vice president for power markets Dave Gadiano said.
NGCP issued on March 26, 2024 the certificate of approval to connect (CATC) for Phase-2 wind project as a load facility.
“We are excited and look forward to the eventual commercial operation of Phase-2,” Gadiano said.
PWEI’s Phase-2 is the only wind power project in the Visayas grid which secured a 20-year offtake in the first Green Energy Auction of the Department of Energy (DOE) last June 2022.
“With this approval, PWEI can now energize the new and dedicated 16 MVA Phase-2 substation (photo) with feedback power to start the internal technical tests of our VESTAS wind turbines,” PGEC vice president for technical operations Paul Elmer Morala said.
“Should all go well, grid compliance tests with power export to the grid will soon follow. We thank the DOE, NGCP, IEMOP and ERC for their support in getting us to this milestone, which will lead to new and additional power supply to the Panay sub-grid,” said Morala.
PWEI owns the feed-in-tariff qualified 36 MW Phase-1 wind power project which has operating since June 2015 in northern Aklan straddling the towns of Nabas and Malay.