Local player Romblon Electric Cooperative Inc. (ROMELCO) partnered with Japanese manufacturer Komaihaltec Inc. and launched a P242-million wind project in Romblon.
The 900 kW wind turbine project will be in Barangays Agnay, Bagacay, and Lonos in Romblon to provide additional supply to the increasing electricity demand of the island.
The project will have three units of 300 kW wind turbines with a combined capacity to generate 2,000,100 kilowatt hours (kwh) of green energy or 25 percent of the total annual energy requirement of the province.
The facilities will be leased to ROMELCO as agreed with Komaihaltec.
“ROMELCO will take full ownership of the facilities after four years of demonstration period,” ROMELCO General Manager Rene Fajilagutan said.
Komaihaltec president Susumu Tanaka said the wind turbine project in Romblon was their first project in the country.
“It has been always our hope to help remote communities, such as islands and isolated towns, to have sustainable and locally available energy source with our wind turbines,” Tanaka said.
“I hope and I believe that this system will spread out to other island communities in the Philippines and in the other part of the world in the not far future,” the Japanese company executive added.
The energy produced by the wind turbines will be able to charge batteries of electric vehicles that were recently launched by Honda Motor Company Ltd. to the province.
The automobile company released 100 units to residents of Romblon for P2,000 a month for four years.
The wind power plant project is in line with ROMELCO’s target to generate 90 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The electric coop reached 39 percent last year.
“ROMELCO and its partners will be exploring and developing more renewable energy resources to achieve our ambition,” Fajilagutan said, mentioning that the EC had told NEA that a biomass power plant was also in the pipeline.
As of now, ROMELCO has finished a 30-kW solar diesel hybrid generation system in Cobrador Island, and 1,350-kW mini hydro power plant in Cantingas, San Fernando, and Sibuyan Island.
