Two companies are showing interest in building pumped storage power plants in the Laguna Lake, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.
DOE director Mario Marasigan said that they have received proposals to put up pump storage plants using lakes.
“Right now, we have accepted six proposals, that means service contract (SC) applications, over Laguna Lake. All of these projects would be pumped storage power plants,” he said.
The Laguna de Bay can host five to six projects with capacities from 400 to 600 megawatts (MW) each in Rizal and Laguna.
Among these proposals are from the Phinma Energy Corp. and Citicore Inc. Another company has submitted a proposal for the Bellissima project.
The proposals are currently in the pre-development stage.
Citicore has confirmed that they are developing a pump hydro power project at the Laguna Lake which is part of the SCs secured from the DOE with a 2,300 MW combined capacities.
“We’re still at pre-development stage and still in our technical working group within Citicore. We’re still planning project development…on how to move with the project,” Citicore regulatory affairs and compliance head Rio Balaba said.
While businesses are taking interest in these projects following the passage of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 and the Renewable Energy (RE) Act of 2008, this type of hydropower project requires a huge investment as development of projects costs $2.5 million per MW.
Apart from the proposed projects, the Kalayaan Pumped Storage power plant can also be found at the Laguna Lake. It is part of the 728 MW Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydro facility.
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