7 MW hydropower plant in Davao del Sur underway

Tuesday 31st of July 2012

STA. CRUZ, Davao del Sur, July 31 -- Hydropower company, Hedcor, is ready to construct its newest run-of-river facility, the seven-MW Tudaya 2 Hydroelectric Project in Sibulan, Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur province.

Tudaya 2 is part of an expansion of Hedcor’s existing Sibulan hydropower plants. The construction will begin after a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony on August 1.

The project will be located downstream from the Sibulan Hydro B. Later this year, the Tudaya 1 project will also be built upstream from the Sibulan Hydro A.

Preliminary exploration and studies for the Tudaya project began in the first quarter of 2010. The design process on the other hand started in 2011.

The planning and development of the project was made easier for the Hedcor exploration team because there are 43.5 km of roads making the Sibulan plants accessible. These are also used as farm-to-market roads by residents.

The communities of Sibulan and Astorga also stand to gain from employment opportunities brought about by the construction and operation of the Tudaya plants.

They stand to benefit from Hedcor’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives focused on education, livelihood, health, and the environment.

The project is scheduled to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2014. It will then begin to generate 76 GWh of clean and renewable energy supplying the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative and the Davao Light and Power Company.

Hedcor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp that specializes only in run-of-river schemed hydropower plants.

Hedcor has a total generating capacity of 155 MW from its 19 plants located in Benguet, Ilocos Sur, and Davao. Tudaya 2 will be the company's 20th plant. (Hedcor/PIA)