Rough Groove

Ilocos sojourn: Bangui windfarm

Fifteen monstrous, no, massive and beautiful state-of-the-art structures sprouting along the shores of Bangui Bay in Ilocos Norte with their clean white paint, dominating the landscape. And what a site it was! Imposing, powerful and awesome!

The Northwind Bangui Bay Project, sponsored by the North Wind Power Development Corporation, consists of 15 turbines with total capacity of 25MW, standing at 70m each and costing about $35M with 90% of funds from the Danish International Development Agency. This green alternative power source is expected to reduce around 360,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) within ten years and can be used for carbon trading, credits given to a country for reducing CO2 emissions and can then sell these to developed countries. Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol of which the country is a signatory, this also marks the signing of the first greenhouse gases emission reductions purchase agreement for a windfarm project in the Philippines and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) of which the country is a founding member.

A 50KM 69KV overhead transmission line will deliver the generated power to Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) in Laoag City and is expected to provide most of the area’s power needs. With a 7% discount against the TransCo rate, it will afford a lower power rate, a boon in this hard and trying times due to surging oil prices. This is just the first of a series of windfarm projects across the coutry.

As regards to the location, this is just a beatuful place with tourism potential. Surfing can also be done here as waves are just huge and the sea is rough.

Related post:
A brief sojourn to Ilocos
Series 18: Windfarm of Bangui, Ilocos Norte