The board of directors of listed Filipino firm Basic Energy Corporation had given go-signal for budget allocation that will enable the company to deploy additional equipment to fully hat could comprehensively gauge the electricity generation potential of its targeted 50-megawatt wind power installation in Mabini, Batangas.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the energy firm indicated that the added capital spending shall be funneled for the purchase of a LIDAR (light detection and ranging) equipment to “supplement wind data gathering of the northern portion of our service contract area.”

It specified that such move had been in keeping with “our decision to move the meteorological mast (met mast) southward.”

The deployment of a LIDAR equipment, as noted by the company, will require capital outlay of P10.818 million, exclusive of value added tax (VAT) charges.

According to Basic Energy, “the LIDAR equipment will further enhance the data gathering of the wind resource assessment and expand the coverage over the existing wind mast already installed.”

The company emphasized that with the deployment of LIDAR equipment, this “can avoid data extrapolations, hence, reducing uncertainties as well as the time needed to construct another met mast.”

Met mast is a wind resource measurement being installed at a demarcated project site; and it is typically erected parallel to the height of the wind turbines to be deployed for the facility.

In wind project development, the data gathered would typically “help in the detailed wind modeling, which is critical in identifying wind turbine technology and its locations,” Basic Energy noted.

The company conveyed that LIDAR is now being recommended and accepted by the leading institutions in the wind resource assessment (WRA) campaign.

The renewable energy service contract for the planned Mabini wind farm installation was awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2021 – and that covers an area of 4,860 square meters of land.

The developer-firm qualified that the final blueprint of the project will largely depend on the outcome of the resource assessment on the actual wind energy potential of the targeted site.

The firm’s service contract sets a five-year non-extendible pre-development stage for the venture; and if the resource will be established viable for commerciality, the development and eventual operations will be for 25 years.

source: https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/16/basic-energy-to-deploy-addl-equipment-for-mabini-wind-project/