Wind energy in Philippines: Trans-Asia inaugurates wind farm in Guimaras

The 54-megawatt wind farm of Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. in San Lorenzo, Guimaras has sparked tourism and economic development in the province.

 

Trans-Asia, a unit of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., marked the third month of the wind farm’s commercial operations by holding a dedication ceremony for the project.

“Moving forward, we are planning to sustain the interest in our facility by helping design a tourism roadmap for the island. Tarec, together with the local government of Guimaras and San Lorenzo, is hoping that the wind farm will be a catalyst for change in the province,” said Danilo Panes, assistant vice president for wind energy development of Trans-Asia.

Local government heads of the island attended the blessing, which served as the first official introduction of the wind farm to stakeholders.

The wind farm started delivering power to the grid since October and began its commercial operations on December 27 last year.

Trans-Asia said in a statement local employment increased with the tapping of community workers for civil works since the construction of the wind project.

Tourism increased 50 percent following the completion of the renewable energy project, with the wind farm “beginning to become an attraction to locals.”

The San Lorenzo wind farm is the second investment of Trans-Asia in Guimaras. The first was a 3.4-MW diesel plant which is covered by a bilateral contract with Guimaras Electric Cooperative, the sole electric retailer in the island.

The San Lorenzo wind farm consists of 27 wind turbines, each generating 2 MW of power. The turbines span 14 kilometers across four barangays in San Lorenzo. It is the first wind energy project that can consistently deliver 100 percent of  capacity to the Visayas grid.

The project supplies power to Panay via a new 2.8-kilometer submarine cable connection from Guimaras.

“Since we began operations, we were able to supply Panay a peak of 52 MW or 96 percent of our rated capacity…. The new power our project supplies to Panay reduces its reliance on power from Negros, frees up transformer capacity and increases the reliability of its connection to the Visayas grid. This, in turn, frees up Panay’s interconnection capacity with the Visayas grid for future growth,” Panes said earlier.