Hydroelectric Power Plants in the Philippines

There are many hydro electric power plants in the Philippines dispersedly located in the various areas
in the countrysides of Luzon Visayas and Mindanao. Almost all of the large hydro electric plants,
which ranged from over 50 MW, are connected to the main transmission grid, while most of small (10
MW to 50 MW) and mini (101 kW to 10 MW) hydro plants are embedded to the local distribution
system.
Below is a list of hydroelectric plants in the Philippines. Almost all of the large hydro plants are
completely enumerated while some mini-hydro plants are not yet listed;

Capacity Date
Plant Name Location Current Owner Remarks
(MW) Commissioned
Large Hydro
Luzon
SN-Aboitiz
Ambuklao Benguet 75 1956 decomissioned
Power
Angat Bulacan 246 NPC 1967 - 1993 Dam Type
Luzon Hydro Run - off /
Bakun Ilocos Sur 70 2001
Corp NPC-IPP
SN-Aboitiz
Binga Benguet 100 1960 Dam Type
Power
Run - off /
Casecnan Nueva Ecija 140 CalEnergy 2001
NPC-IPP
Pump
Jpower & 1982 / 2002-
Kalayaan Laguna 684.6 Storage/NPC-
Sumitomo 2004
IPP
SN-Aboitiz
Magat Isabela 360 1983 Dam type
Power
First Gen
Pantabangan Nueva Ecija 100 Hydro Power 1977 Dam Type
Corp
Dam type /
San Roque Pangasinan 340 Marubeni/Sithe 2003
NPC-IPP
Mindanao
Lanao del
Agus 1 80 NPC 1992-94
Sur
Lanao del
Agus 2 180 NPC 1979
Sur
Lanao del
Agus 4 158.1 NPC 1985
Norte
Agus 5 Iligan City 55 NPC 1985
Agus 6 Iligan City 200 NPC 1953-77
Agus 7 Iligan City 54 NPC 1982-83
 Capacity Date
Plant Name Location Current Owner Remarks
(MW) Commissioned
Pulangi IV Bukidnon 255 NPC 1985-86 Dam Type

Small
Hydro/Minihydro
Luzon
Jpower &
Caliraya Laguna 22.6 1942-50/ 2002 NPC - IPP
Sumitomo
Jpower &
Botocan Laguna 20.8 1946-48/ 2003 NPC - IPP
Sumitomo
First Gen
Nueva
Masiway 12 Hydro Power 1980 Dam Type
Eciya
Corp
Feeding from
Baligatan Isabela 6 NIA 1987
Magat
People's
Camarines
Barit 1.8 Energy 1957
Sur
Services
Palakpakin Laguna 0.56 Philpodeco 1933-38
Balugbog Laguna 0.55 Philpodeco 1933-38
Sorsogon
Cawayan Sorsogon 0.4 Electric 2002
Cooperative II
Kalibato Laguna 0.075 Philpodeco 1933-38
Magat A Isabela 1.44 ISELCO 1984 Run-off river
Magat B Isabela 1.08 ISELCO 1985 Run-off river

Visayas
Sta. Clara
Loboc Bohol 1.2 International 1957-67
Corporation
Negros
Amlan 0.8 NPC 1962
Oriental
Mindanao
Bubunawan
offtaker:
Bubunawan Bukidnon 7 Power 2001
CEPALCO
Company
Hydro Electric
Talomo Davao City 3.5 Development 1998
Corp
First Gen
Agusan Bukidnon 1.6 1957 Run-off
Bukidnon
 Capacity Date
Plant Name Location Current Owner Remarks
(MW) Commissioned
Power Corp

Geothermal Power Plants in the Philippines

Rated Date
Owner/ Steam
Plant Name Location Capacity Commi- Remarks
Operator Supplier
(MW*) ssioned
Luzon
Makban Plant
Bitin, Laguna NPC Chevron 110 1979
A
Makban Plant
Bitin, Laguna NPC Chevron 110 1980
B
Makban Plant On prolonged
Bitin, Laguna NPC Chevron 110 1984
C shutdown
Makban Plant
Bitin, Laguna NPC Chevron 40 1995
D
Makban Plant
Bitin, Laguna NPC Chevron 40 1996
E
Tiwi A Tiwi, Albay NPC Chevron 110 1979 decommissioned
Tiwi B Tiwi, Albay NPC Chevron 110 1980
Tiwi C Tiwi, Albay NPC Chevron 110 1981-82
Bacon, PNOC-
Bacman A NPC 110 1993
Sorsogon EDC
BacMan Bacon, PNOC-
NPC 20 1994
(Cawayan) Sorsogon EDC
Bacman Bacon, PNOC-
NPC 20 1998
(Bacon) Sorsogon EDC
Visayas
Valencia,
PNOC-
Palinpinon I Negros NPC 112.5 1983
EDC
Oriental
Valencia,
PNOC-
Palinpinon 2 Negros NPC 80 1993-95
EDC
Oriental
Northern Negros PNOC-
PNOC-EDC 49 2007 On rehabilitation
Negros Occidental EDC
 Rated Date
Owner/ Steam
Plant Name Location Capacity Commi- Remarks
Operator Supplier
(MW*) ssioned
Tongonan, PNOC-
Leyte A & B PNOC-EDC 610.18 1996 NPC-IPP
Leyte EDC
Leyte Kananga, PNOC-
NPC 112.5 1983
Tonginan Leyte EDC
Mindanao
Kidapawan, Marubeni PNOC-
Mt Apo I 54.24 1996 NPC-IPP
N. Cotabato Corporation EDC
Kidapawan, Marubeni PNOC-
At Apo II 54.24 1999 NPC-IPP
N. Cotabato Corporation EDC
* For most cases, specially for old NPC Plants, rated capacity is not equivalent to the actual
dependable capacity of the plants
Coal-Fired Power Plants in the Philippines
Although Philippines has a lot of indigenous and clean energy resources, the country is still
reliant on “high CO2-emitting” coal-fueled power plants as a source of electricity; simply
because electricity generated from these plants is still cheaper compared to some of the
indigenously fueled power plants in the country. The price of indigenous energy sources in the
Philippines is high due to either or all of the following reasons;
- indigenous energy sources in the Philippines, like geothermal and natural gas, are heavily taxed
by the Government
- The prices of some indigenous energy sources are indexed to imported fuels. The cost of the
geothermal steam of Tiwi and Makban, for example is indexed to imported coal, therefore, the
electricity generated by these geothermal plants and coal plants do not have much difference.
- Some Hydroelectric Independent Power Producers like Casecnan Hydro Electric Power
Plant sell there electricity at incredibly high price due to the Plant’s expensive construction cost.
Coal that is used for the coal-fired power plants in the Philippines is either imported or sourced
locally (in Semirara).

Below is the list of Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plants in The Philippines;

Installed
Year
Plant Name Capacity Owner Technology Location Remarks
Comm.
(MW)
Luzon
NPC-IPP /
Sual Coal Pulverized Sual, Formerly
1294 TEAM Energy 1999
Power Plant Coal Pangasinan owned by
Mirant
consortium of
Masinloc
Power
Masinloc Coal Partners Co. Pulverized Masinloc,
600 1998
Power Plant Ltd. and Coal Zambales
Singapore-
based AES
Transpower
 Pte Ltd
Consortium of
InterGen,
Ogden Energy,
Qezon Power Group Global Pulverized Mauban, MERALCO
511 2000
Plant, Ltd. Power, Coal Quezon IPP
Investments
and PMR
Limited
NPC-IPP /
Pagbilao Coal Pulverized Pagbilao, Formerly
728 TEAM Energy 1996
Power Plant Coal Quezon owned by
Mirant
Pulverized 1984 / Calaca,
Calaca 1 and 2 600 NPC
Coal 1995 Batangas
Circulating
Mabalacat,
APEC 50 APEC Fluidized 2006
Pampanga
Bed

Visayas
Toledo
Toledo 88.8 ?? ??? 1993
City, Cebu
NPC but
Cebu Thermal Pulverized
109.3 operated by 1981 Naga, Cebu
Power Plant Coal
Salcon Power

Mindanao
Villanueva,
Mindanao Coal Pulverized
232 STEAG 2006 Misamis NPC - IPP
Plant Coal
Oriental
 Biomass

In November 2008, Global Green Power Co., an affiliate of Aboitiz Power Co., presented a two
hundred million dollars plan to construct five 17.5 MW class biomass power stations and totally
87.5 MW capacity power generation facilities would be installed.
Of the five, two plans were disclosed in June 2009, namely;

1. Mina,IIoilo(construction cost :1.951 billion pesos)

2. San Leonardo,Nueva Ecija(construction cost:2.002 billion p

3. ( 1 peso = 1.98 yen )

Each power plant will consume everyday 400～500 ton of biomass materials such as rice chaff,
rice straw, corn straw, empty shells of palm, strained lees of corn. These two power plants will be
put into regular service in January 2011, operated by 140 employees.

In addition, Sure Eco Energy Philippines Co. has presented a plan to construct power stations,
with capital sharing from a Japanese business, to be operated on agricultural by-products at four
locations as shown below:

3. San-Pedro, Laguna： 250MW

4. San Jose, Lipa city： 250MW

5. Natividad, Nueva Ecija： 60MW

6. San Vicente, Sumilao Bukidnon： 950MW

Consequently, Philippine’s biomass power generation capacity has grown up to 1,595.5 MW,
excluding small-scale power stations, and the amount of agricultural by-products to be burnt in
the power plants will be 13 million ton annually.
 Biogas
Popular Biogas Systems

CFD (6+ Million in use)

IFC (2.9+ Million in use)

The design of most biogas systems can be traced to either the China Fixed Dome (CFD) 6+ million in-
use or the India Floating Cover (IFC) 2.9+ million in-use.
The Philippine BioDigester Home Biogas System

Philippine BioDigester HBS [1]

The Philippine BioDigester Home Biogas System (HBS) [2] is a product of both designs. It is:

1. Easier to build
2. Less expensive, and
3. Simpler to operate and maintain (clean & repair)
It can be built as a :

 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project where expert masonry skills are not required
 using common and inexpensive materials available anywhere.
Biogas production from pig manure where 1-2 pigs excrete 1L (L=liter)

1. 20L/day = 250 Pesos[3] biogas/month

2. 40L/day = 500 Pesos[3] biogas/month
3. 60L/day = 750 Pesos[3] biogas/month
The plan described here is for an 8 cubic meter digester. It can produce up to 1,000 Pesos[3]/month of
biogas from 80L/day of pig manure.
 Wind Energy

Wind is generated as the fluid and gaseous parts of the atmosphere move across the surface of the
earth due to the ever changing temperatures of the oceans, land masses and other features heated
by the rays of the sun. The differences in the way these areas are heated allow for the variance in the
amount of wind experienced by various locales.
The seas and land masses heat up and cool down in different rates so the wind is pretty strong in
areas where these two geographical features meet. Despite the abundance of interface between
shores and seas in the country – we do have over 7,000 islands – the effort to harness the power of
the wind isn’t that popular as far as the government’s priorities are concerned. This sort of
ambivalence towards the relative gains that could be gotten through the creation of wind farms is
largely apparent in the entire continent of Asia. Other than China, India and Japan who are among
leaders when it comes to the construction of wind farms and consumption of clean energy coming
from the wind turbines, the rest of Asia lags as far as advocacy for this type of technology is
concerned.
Enter Bangui
The town of Bangui in Ilocos Norte is one of the few shining examples in the region that wind power
could be used to provide affordable and clean energy for a vast chunk of a province’s population and
industry.
Bangui is a fourth-class municipality in one of the northernmost provinces in the Luzon landmass. It
has a fairly small population of just a little over 14 ,000 and has a good stretch of coastline that serves
as the home of the first wind turbine farm in the Philippines.
Bangui was picked from many other regions in the Philippines through a geological and
meteorological survey done by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) when they
conducted research to screen out for potential places in the country that could serve as good. There
were other areas in the country that were deemedsuitable for the installation of wind farms. The
other areas on the list included certain parts of the islands
ofMindoro, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Palawan and Eastern Mindanao.
Solar Energy

Solar energy in the Philippines

People in Pangan-an Island, Cebu,
Philippines, enjoy 24-hour electricity service
from a centralised solar photovoltaic (PV)
system donated by the Kingdom of Belgium.
This power plant consists of 504 PV panels, a
battery bank with 118 storage batteries, a
charge controller, and 2 inverters made in
Germany. The solar power plant has been
operating since December 1998, supplying
230 Volt (V) Alternating Current (AC) electricity to around 200 households. The Panganan residents
use electricity for lighting, radio
and TV sets. The sustainability of this power
system is questionable, however. The batteries need to be replaced in the next two years,
which will cost the community $ 100,000. So
far, they have only saved around $ 13,700 over
the last 7 years. At the rate of savings from
their monthly collection, they would not be
able to raise the amount needed to replace the
batteries. This illustrates that components for
PV systems are still very expensive, particularly for people living in rural areas.
Limited capacities
Misunderstanding is rampant among solar
energy users. For instance, in a solar home
system, many people think that the most critical component is the PV module. In reality,
the heart of the system is the battery, which
stores energy. Being unaware of this fact, they
tend to over-use the battery, which reduces its
operating life.
Another problem is that people often think
that solar electricity is the same as electricity
from electric utilities, where you can use all
types of home appliances. They imagine that
a 100-Watt PV can supply 100 Watt of power
at anytime. The truth is that solar power is
limited by the capacity of the PV panels,
available sunshine hours per day and battery
storage capacity. Since solar PV depends on
sunlight (irradiance), PV panels will generate
less power to recharge the battery in rainy or
cloudy weather.
Subsidies required
In Pangan-an, people are willing and able to
pay only around $ 2 a month for electricity,
which is roughly the same cost if people buy
kerosene to fuel one or two lamps. Residents are primarily dependent on fishing
and generally have low incomes. Thus, the
money collected would not be enough for
maintenance and replacement of critical
components, such as the battery. Consequently, for this type of project, subsidies
from the Government or from other sources
are still required in order to sustain operation.
Important load management
As experienced in Pangan-an Island, maintaining a solar PV system is not easy. High-level
technical knowledge is required to maintain
such a system properly. The battery, for
instance, needs to be topped up or recharged
regularly. However, recovering its charge,
once discharged, depends on the weather. Load
management is thus extremely important. A
solar power plant, which has a limited PV
installed capacity, can only generate a specific
amount of power per day, depending on solar
irradiation or intensity of sunlight. On a rainy
or cloudy day, PV panels generate less power,
thus less charging current goes to the storage
battery. Conversely, on a hot summer's day,
the irradiation could be high, causing the PV
to deliver more current to the battery. When it
is cloudy or raining, people should be advised
to conserve energy stored in the battery by
limiting their use of appliances.
Rare spare parts
Spare parts, especially for large centralised
systems, are quite difficult to find. When an
inverter card is damaged, for example, it
needs to be sent back to Europe for repair.
There is practically no way to find a local supplier for critical components.
Hydroelectric Power Plants in the Philippines
Geothermal Power Plants in the Philippines
Biomass
Biogas
Coal-Fired Power Plants in the Philippines
Wind Energy
Solar Energy