First Gen Hydro Power Corporation (FGHPC), a subsidiary of Lopez-owned First Gen Corporation, is investing Php6 billion to build the the 120-megawatt Aya pumped-storage project in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
In its report to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, FGHPC said that the proposed storage facility aims to address the intermittent regulation of power in Luzon. The facility, it added, will likewise provide technical capability in delivering ancillary services, which will pave the way for full-year operations of irrigation demands from the Pantabangan Reservoir.
The project will house two 60-megawatt turbines for a total generation capacity of 120MW.
FGHPC received its hydropower service contract from the Department of Energy in December 2019 for the exclusive development of the project.
The company noted that Luzon’s growing demand for power have put a strain on the country’s largest grid and that it was pursuing the project to partly address these demands, while providing stability to support the use of renewable energy.
The project will tap the Aya Reservoir, located right beside the main Pantabangan Reservoir, and the Masiway Reservoir downstream from the Pantabangan Dam. The plant is designed to release water from Aya during peak hours and the same volume pumped during off-peak hours.
FGHPC manages the 132MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydro power plant complex (photo above), which forms part of a multipurpose project that provides irrigation to Nueva Ecija’s rice lands. The complex has the country’s largest storage-type hydropower facility.
