NorthWind Power Plant: Paving the way for clean energy development in the Philippines

Bangui Bay

Location: Philippines

Operator: NorthWind Power Development Corp

Configuration: 15 X 1.65 MW

Operation: 2005

WTG supplier: Vestas

Quick facts: This is the first of its kind and the largest wind park in Southeast Asia. In Oct 2001, NWPD signed an initial agreement and ultimately signed a 20yr PPA with Ilocos Norte Electric Coop for the the plant. The site is a 4km stretch of coast on Bangui Bay 65km from Laoag City. A 20-MW extension is planned along with a 69kV transmission line to Laoag City.

The windswept town of Bangui, Ilocos Norte, on the northern end of Luzon Island, Philippines, is site of the first wind farm in Southeast Asia.

NorthWind Power Development Corporation (NorthWind) in its interest on indigenous resources spearheaded the development and setting-up of the first wind powerplant dubbed "clean and green energy."

The project consists of 15 units of NEG Micon NM 82 wind turbines rated at 1.65MW each. The turbines are 70 meters tall and the rotor diameter is 82 meters. The turbines are lined along the shore and arranged at a single row with a total installed capacity of 33 megawatts.

The wind farm site is a strip of shoreline along Bangui Bay. In this area, wind mostly comes from north-northeast, from the sea towards land. To optimize the full benefits of the wind, the turbine were installed along the shore facing the sea effectively removing windbreaks.

The NorthWind Bangui project is the country's first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project registered in Bonn, Germany.