ABOITIZ Power Corp.’s subsidiary, SN AboitizPower (Snap), has completed the commissioning of its 8.5-megawatt (MW) Maris Main Canal 1 hydroelectric power plant.
With this, the commercial operation of the $47-million hydro plant follows soon.
The plant reutilizes the water coming from the 360-MW Magat hydro plant through the reregulating dam located downstream of Magat. The water then flows into the Maris Main (South) Irrigation Canal.
The project was made possible with the support of the National Irrigation Administration, the Department of Energy, host communities and local government units.
Maris hydro is the first greenfield project of Snap. It is composed of two units of Kaplan pit-type turbines with generator nameplate capacity of 4.25 MW each.
Unit 1 was commissioned on October 24, while Unit 2 was commissioned on November 6. The construction of the plant in Barangay Ambatali in Ramon, Isabela, took about two years.
Meanwhile, in October AboitizPower’s run-of-river hydro business unit, Hedcor, signed civil-works contract with United Kingdom-based contractor Whessoe for its 19-MW Bineng Combined Hydropower Project in Benguet.
The project, which will increase the combined capacity of the Bineng plants from 5.48 MW to 19 MW, was approved by the municipal council of La Trinidad in July this year.
In addition, Hedcor’s 69-MW Manolo Fortich project, also a run-of-river hydro plant, which is currently synchronizing to the grid, is targeted for commercial operations in 2017 or early 2018.