Alternergy, Basic Energy start wind resource review

MANILA, Philippines — Renewable energy firm Alternergy Holdings Corp. and listed Basic Energy Corp. have started assessing wind resources in their respective planned wind power project sites.

Alternergy chief technical director Knud Hedeager said the company has recently installed an 80-meter tall meteorological mast in Alabat Island, Quezon province to measure the wind resource in the area.

“The meteorological mast will validate the strength and capacity of the wind resource over the next two years,” Hedeager said.

Alternergy said that based on the Global Wind Atlas, the project site has more than seven meters per second average wind speed, similar to the wind resource in Rizal province where the company’s 54-megawatt (MW) Pililla wind farm is located.

The Alabat wind power project, which has a proposed capacity of up to 50 MW, is one of the wind power projects being developed by the Alternergy Group.

“The Alabat Island is strategically chosen as a project site for our Alabat wind power project. By developing a wind project in a site that bravely faces the ever-prevailing ‘amihan’ northeast monsoon from the Pacific Ocean, Alternergy aims to turn a natural resource into a reliable source of clean energy,” Alternergy chairman Vince Pérez said.

Alternergy aims to develop up to 1,370 MW of additional wind, offshore wind, solar, and run-of-river hydro projects in the next five years.

Meanwhile, Basic Energy, in a stock exchange filing, said wholly owned subsidiary Mabini Energy Corp. has officially commenced the wind resource assessment campaign after successfully installing and testing the meteorological mast facility at Mabini, Batangas for its potential 50-MW Mabini wind energy project.

Basic Energy said a one-week functional test of the meteorological mast was undertaken to ensure it would perform based on its design intent during the period of wind resource assessment.

The assessment will verify the wind characteristics of the area for a potential wind power farm, the company said.

Basic Energy said a favorable one-year period of assessment campaign would lead to the micro siting process to determine the wind turbine locations, as well as its design.

The wind power farm is expected to operate and deliver power energy to the grid by 2027.

Basic Energy announced last month that is allotting P6.35 million to explore prospective areas for wind power development.

The company has seven areas of interest for possible wind power development, in line with its thrust to search and develop other power plant projects, particularly solar and wind.