Kapurpurawan
Ilocos giant windrowers
By Aleesus Manarang
It was only a few weeks back when
former Vice President Al Gore visited the country. He is known to many as one
of the hardcore advocates of green peace. He is very vocal in promoting the use
of renewable resources as part of the needed moves of saving planet earth. And
speaking of green energy producers, there stood giant sentinels of modern wind
rowers at the heart
of Ilocandia and one these sites is in Burgos Kapurpurawan. These are the
modern windmills which were erected just a few years back to contribute in the
much needed supply of electricity in the region. The construction is primarily
for the generation of renewable energy by harnessing the typhoon blowing wind
near the western Ilocos coastal margin. However, a big bonus of this huge
physics project also brought the creation of tourism industry in the region.
In 1996, the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a wind resource analysis and
mapping study. It concluded that various areas in the Philippines are ideal for
wind power installation. These areas include Bangui and Burgos towns in Ilocos
Norte, Batanes and Babuyan Islands, which are north of Luzon and the higher
interior terrain of Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Palawan and Eastern
Mindanao. The study led to the inception of the wind farm project. NorthWind
Power Development Corp. developed (and maintains and operates) the project,
while Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish firm, supplied the wind turbine-generator
units (WTGs) for the site, similar to those already found in Denmark. The
project was to have been developed in three phases. The Kapurpurawan wind farm
was commissioned in November 9, 2014 and upon its completion it became the
largest wind farm in the country and in Southeast Asia, covering 600 hectares
and three barangays of Burgos, namely Saoit, Poblacion and Nagsurot. The
project was the first one to be nominated by the Department of Energy as
eligible for the department's feed-in tariff scheme.
Ilocandia is always known for its beautiful
tourist spots from the heritage and historic sites, rugged coastal margins down
to the plantation of corn and tobacco. Today, the landscape is also propelled
by these giant wind rowers that never fail to wow the seemingly dwarfed traveling
audiences from the low ground.
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