PNOC RC, H&WB to develop PHL's first tidal power plant

PNOC Renewables Corp. (PNOC RC) has partnered with plant operator H&WB Asia Pacific (Pte. Ltd.) Corp. to develop an in-stream energy conversion (TISEC) facility, the first tidal power plant in the country and in the ASEAN region.

In an emailed statement on Thursday, H&WB said the TISEC facility will be located in its three concession areas in the San Bernardino Strait between Matnog in the province of Sorsogon and Capul and Dalupiri in Northern Samar.

PNOC RC is a fully-owned subsidiary of state-owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) which focuses on promoting, developing and implementing new and renewable energy sources in the country.

H&WB is in the business of building, owning and operating power plants that produce, convert, transform, process and generate energy from fossil and renewable energy resources.

According to H&WB, the French marine energy solutions company SABELLA SAS is the technology provider for the project.

"The cohesive partnership aims to establish a special purpose company (SPC) in the first half of 2017 to commence project finance and engineering works, thereby, launching the first-ever TISEC power not only in the Philippines but in ASEAN as well," it said.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which count Brunei, Cambodia. Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar. Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"SABELLA and H&WB have recently completed a detailed in situ bathymetry measurement, to move towards a full 3D current numerical model in order to locate the first demonstration4 project, which will consist of three to five turbines," H&WB said.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PNOC RC on October 27, 2016.

"PNOC RC’s role is vital, and the MOU with H&WB and SABELLA is a pro-active strategy that can support the project’s success, more so, when PNOC RC decides to invest into the SPC," H&WB said.

"With PNOC RC, the promise of a new field of ocean energies can be realized in the Philippines," it added. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VS, GMA News