CEPALCO Distributed Generation PV Power Plant

To demonstrate PV’s effectiveness in addressing distribution system capacity issues, a 1 MW distributed generation PV power plant is proposed to be built and integrated into the 80 MW distribution network of the Cagayan de Oro Power & Light Company (CEPALCO), a private utility operation on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The PV system will be operated in conjunction with an existing 7 MW hydroelectric plant with dynamic load control, thereby enabling the joint PV/hydro resource to reduce both distribution level and system level demand, effectively providing “firm” generating capacity. The PV plant will also assist in postponing the need for additional substation installations in the CEPALCO distribution system for a period of up to three years. The project will thus reduce the need of CEPALCO to purchase additional quantities of thermal plant-based power, thereby reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases. However, more importantly, it is expected that this plant will provide the first, full-scale demonstration of the environmental and, ultimately, also economic benefits of the conjunctive use of hydro and PV-based power, as well as the first significant use of grid-connected PV in a developing country. If, as is expected, the large-scale introduction of this technology helps in substantially reducing PV systems’ costs, widespread applications worldwide are likely to result.