Aboitiz Power Corporation is ramping up efforts to improve the performance of its existing renewable energy (RE) facilities across the country, especially as it pursues a greater share of RE in its capacity mix by 2030.
For instance, this includes the automation of its hydropower plants under run-of-river subsidiary Hedcor.
Among the Hedcor plants being upgraded are those in Luzon, as well as the integration of the Manolo Fortich hydropower facilities in Bukidnon to the Mindanao Control Center, which allows Hedcor to control all its plants across Mindanao from a single control room. Hedcor’s automation initiatives include putting in place systems aimed at improving operational efficiency, enhancing safety by minimizing the interaction between plant operators and the various machines, as well as enabling real-time monitoring to help them stay on top of their operations.
Hedcor logged a total generation of 182 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) for the first quarter of 2021, breaking its own forecast of 123 million kWh for the period.
“Aside from the favorable weather conditions, Hedcor’s performance for the first quarter of 2021 is largely driven by our continued efforts to improve plant reliability,” Hedcor Vice President for Operations Rolando Pacquiao said in a statement.
Hedcor has consistently hit its monthly generation targets while powering some 76,000 households, mainly attributed to the steady improvements in Hedcor’s reliability performance, which includes ensuring high availability and maintaining low unplanned downtime hours.
Compared to Hedcor’s first-quarter performance in the past five years, the group’s daily generation percentage was at its highest and most consistent in 2021. The hydropower firm logged an average daily generation percentage of 145.41% versus last year’s first-quarter figure of 80.99%.
Last year, Hedcor recorded an annual generation of 957 gigawatt-hours, powering around 400,000 households year-round.
AboitizPower President and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said that while majority of the company’s RE plans involve the building of new facilities, it wants to make sure that the current facilities continue addressing the country’s RE needs.
“We continuously look for ways to improve the performance of our Cleanergy plants in order to achieve our availability and reliability targets. This will be an important part of our operations as we work on our goal of achieving a 50:50 balance between our Cleanergy and thermal portfolios in the next ten years,” Rubio said.
