DOE signs contract with A. Brown unit to develop hydro project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) has signed a contract with Hydrolink, a wholly owned subsidiary of A. Brown Company Inc. (ABCI) for the development of a 25-megawatt hydropower project in Surigao del Sur.

The project would utilize water from the Carac-an River in Cantillan for the hydropower plant.

The project is part of ABCI’s plans to provide much-needed additional power capacities for the green-rated electric cooperatives in Mindanao.

ABCI chairman Walter Brown said that given the reduced power supply contract of Surigao del Sur II Electric Cooperative (Surseco II) with state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor), the cooperative would have to seek alternative sources of fuel to meet the increase in demand in the coming years.

Surseco supplies power to 12 municipalities and to one city in the province.

“We would like to help them in this undertaking, and as a sign of our full and sincere intentions, we immediately commissioned a hydropower technical team to study the power potentials of the rivers in Surigao,” Brown said.

Hydrolink president and ABCI vice-president for business development Roel Castro for his part said that the company has conducted a pre-feasibility study of the river and the results of the study show the project’s potential.

“We have already identified the most viable strategies for its development. We will now proceed to processing the necessary permits and coordinate with Surigao’s local officials for their support of the project,” Castro said.