Status (Local)

Given the country's vast hydropower potential, more than 10 percent of electricity
requirements will be supplied by hydropower generation. To meet the expected
increase in demand for power over the planning period, a total of 2,950 MW of
hydropower capacity will be available within both grid and off-grid areas. Committed
and indicative capacity additions will increase overall hydropower available capacity to
5,468 MW from the current installed capacity of 2,518 MW. Eighteen (18) large
hydropower potentials are estimated to account for more than 90 percent of the possible
additional capacity while the remainder will be supplied by mini-hydro potentials. In
addition, 490 kW of micro-hydro power plants are targeted for installation for the
planning horizon. These micro-hydropower plants will be tapped to support the
government's rural electrification program targeting 100 percent barangay (or village)
electrification by 2006. The committed capacity addition is expected to provide 7.7
TWh of electricity per year equivalent to a fuel oil displacement of 12.9 MMBFOE.

Hydro plants are classified based on their capacities, as follows: (i) micro-hydro - 1 to
100 kW; (ii) mini-hydro - 101 kW to 10 MW; and (iii) large hydro - more than 10 MW.
The total untapped hydropower resource potential of the country is estimated at 13,097
MW, of which 85 percent are considered large and small hydros (11,223 MW), 14
percent (1,847 MW) are classified as mini-hydros while less than 1 percent (27 MW)
are considered micro-hydros. Some projects in Luzon are available for private
financing, while 20 are undergoing feasibility studies and 82 are in the pre-feasibility
stage.

Potential sites for mini and micro-hydro projects are evenly distributed in all the
regions. The National Electrification Administration (NEA), National Power
Corporation (NPC) and the DOE have studied specific mini-hydro potential sites and
have lined them up as indicative projects. The NEA has identified about 1,000
mini-hydro potential sites for development based on its mini-hydro program which
began in the 1980s. Likewise, NPC has identified potential sites for mini-hydro
development. In 1995, the DOE conducted a water resource inventory study to validate
NEA's and NPC's identified potential sites for promotion to private investors.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by United States National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (US-NREL) likewise revealed that micro-hydro potential sites are well
distributed all over the regions (Figure 7). Local government units (LGUs),
non-government organizations (NGOs), electric cooperatives (ECs), and DOE's
Affiliated Non-Conventional Energy Centers (ANECs) supported the study by
conducting local identification projects. Another study entitled "Micro-hydropower
Development Study for Unenergized Barangays" is a Japanese-funded project which
aims to identify at least 40 micro-hydro sites for development in Regions I, II, III and
Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), (DOE.GOV.PH)