Napocor secures Korean financing for hydropower monitoring proj

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has secured South Korean government financing for the establishment of early warning and monitoring system for its hydro-electric projects.

The project will be funded by a grant from the South Korean government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and will be jointly undertaken with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (Pagasa).

Three of these stand-alone systems will be installed in the identified sites —  Aurora province in Luzon, Iloilo in the Visayas and the Lanao provinces in Mindanao.

One of the project’s direct beneficiaries is Napocor’s Agus Hydroelectric Power Complex (AHPC), which is operated by Mindanao Generation (MinGen). The Mindanao system will be installed within the Lake Lanao-Agus River watershed.

MinGen is presently relying just on texting technology for its near-real-time hydro-meteorological data. As soon as the system is put in place, all real-time data acquisition and transmission will be fully automated, providing management timely, useful and accurate information for decision-making.

MinGen operates the five power plants that comprise the AHPC. The complex is the major source of electricity for the Mindanao grid, augmented by other power generation facilities such as Pulangi IV in Bukidnon.

AHPC is operated using water coming from the Ma. Cristina Falls in Iligan.