RENEWABLE energy (RE) firm Matuno River Development Corp. (MRDC) said its 8-megawatt (MW) hydroelectric power plant in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya is set to begin commercial operations before the end of 2021.
The run-of-river project is expected to augment the power supply requirements of Luzon amid the unplanned outages of older coal power plants, and provide irrigation to farmers based in Nueva Vizcaya.
“The project is a realization of the company’s plan to push forward the Department of Energy’s agenda towards making renewable energy a significant part of the country’s energy mix,” MRDC President Armando L. Diaz said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The new facility, which was built using equipment from the Austria-based firm Global Hydro Energy GmbH, will be located along Matuno River, a tributary of Magat Dam.
MRDC said the 8-MW hydro plant will be linked to the Bayombong substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
The company added that it is embarking on various projects in Nueva Vizcaya in line with corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments, including hiring locals for employment, organizing tree-planting initiatives and conducting feeding programs.
MRDC is a project company under the Filipino-owned Magis Energy Holdings Corp., which was established in 2019 to develop renewable energy projects with a focus on underserved rural communities.
Magis Energy also owns Taft Hydro Energy Corp. which is in charge of developing a “soon-to-operate” 16-MW hydro power plant in Eastern Samar. — Angelica Y. Yang
