In a move to address Mindanao’s increasing power supply needs, one of the largest developers of run-of-river power plants recently broke ground for the construction of a 7-megawatt (MW) Tudaya Hydropower 2 Plant Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur.
The hydro plant is set to obtain power from Tudaya Falls, a 100-meter falls within Mt Apo National Park —considered the highest falls in the area.
The new hydropower plant will be constructed between two barangays in Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur, harnessing Sibulan River. It is set to rise downstream from Sibulan hydro plant B, 200 meters away from Davao-Cotabato road.
Hedcor, Inc, a subsidiary of AboitizPower invested P1 billion for the Tudaya 2 project.
AboitizPower expects to add 354 MW to Mindanao’s grid, 54 MW of which shall come from Hedcor’s hydro plants, and 300 MW from the clean coal facilities of Therma South, Inc, another subsidiary of AboitizPower.
“The Tudaya project will provide the Davao area, and Mindanao as a whole, with reliable, dependable and competitively priced power, thereby strengthening the region’s position as a destination for business, investment and tourism,” AboitizPower president Erramon Aboitiz said.
The generating facility is expected to deliver 40.5 GWhs—equivalent to more than 7,000 homes—yearly to Davao del Sur Cooperative (DASURECO).
There are at least 34 hydroelectric power plants all over the Philippines, according to the Department of Energy’s 2006 data.
The Tudaya hydropower plant is seen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of over 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide. This puts the plant squarely under the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change as a Clean Development Mechanism project.
Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo said,“As an AboitizPower company and as one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the country, the Tudaya Hydro 2 is our contribution to the worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The power plant is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2014, and to provide more than 400 jobs for locals.
