First Gen Corp. saidconstruction of its planned 100 megawatts (MW) Lake Aya hydro pump storage project in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija will start next year.
Francis Giles Puno, First Gen president and chief operating officer, said in an online briefing recentlythe project’s technology is considereda larger scale of energy storage compared with currently available battery storage facilities in the country.
“We’ve been developing that for a good number of years… The permitting process is quite challenging for hydroelectric plants but … we’re almost there. We’d like to break ground next year,” Puno said.
First Gen operates the existing 132 MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plant project in the area.
Once completed, the Aya project will allow water to be pumped into a reservoir for use at a later time as the technology allows the storing and generating of electricity by moving a volume of water between two reservoirs situated at different elevations.
The Aya project is capable of providing ancillary services to electricity grid for grid security and stability.
Puno said construction of the hydro pump storage will take about two and half years. First Gen hasallotted a capital expenditure funding of $60 million this year for the project.
First Gen said the hydro pump storage will also be a good complement to the existing portfolio of First Gen which is currently at 3,492 MW of installed capacity from projects using natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind and solar power resources.
In December 2019, the Department of Energy awarded First Gen with the hydro service contract to develop the project.
The service contract grants First Gen, five years to conduct pre-development stage activities — from a preliminary assessment and feasibility study up to financial closing and declaration of commerciality.
