HEDCOR Sabangan Inc. (HSAB) has sought approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to put up a transmission line that will connect its 14-megawatt (MW) Sabangan hydroelectric power plant to the 69-kilovolt (kV) La Trinidad-Bulalacao-Mopreco transmission line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
In its 17-page decision, the ERC said the proposed transmission line project will “redound to the benefit of the electricity consumers in terms of continuous, reliable and efficient power supply.”
HSAB’s dedicated point-to-point transmission facility is essential to the delivery of power from the Sabangan plant to the Luzon grid, the power producer said. Based on computations, the transmission line project costs P45,120,293 but the ERC, after further evaluation, arrived at a lower project cost of P35,321,673.
“NGCP’s 69-kV La Trinidad-Bulalacao-Mopreco transmission line is the shortest, most economical and viable option to connect the Sabangan hydro- electric power plant to the transmission system of the NGCP. It will be exclusively utilized by HSAB,” the power firm said.
HSAB will avail of the feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism for renewable-energy (RE) developers. Its project is capable of producing an average of 55.15 gigawatt hours annually based on the approved FiT rate of P5.90 per kilowatt-hour.
A hydropower service contract was already executed between HSAB and the Department of Energy. Under the contract, HSAB was appointed as the party having the exclusive right to explore, develop and utilize the hydropower resources within the area along the Chico River in the municipality of Sabangan, Mountain Province.
HSAB specializes in generating clean and RE from run-of-river hydropower sources. Its Sabangan hydroelectric plant is a run-of-river development scheme intended to harness the hydro power potentials of Chico River.