First Gen Corp., through its subsidiary First Gen Hydro Power Corp. (FGHPC), has signed a special use agreement in protected areas (SAPA) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The agreement allows the company to pursue the development of the 120 megawatts (MW) Aya pumped storage hydroelectric facility in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, while preserving the status of the project site as part of a protected area.
The SAPA also allows FGHPC to use a 36-hectare portion of the 84,000 hectares Pantabangan-Carranglan watershed forest reserve for the Aya hydro project. The agreement is valid for 25 years and subject to renewal for another 25 years.
DENR issues a SAPA to enable productive use of the country’s protected areas by providing access to economic opportunities to indigenous people, tenured migrant communities, protected migrant communities and other protected area stakeholders.
The agreement also aims to optimize the development of special-use projects, which are consistent with the principles of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation and in cooperation with stakeholders.
As part of the agreement, FGHPC also remitted to the DENR a P69.1-million check as SAPA fee.
FGHPC holds a hydropower service contract for the pumped storage project that the Department of Energy awarded in 2019.
FGHPC also manages the 132-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plant, which is part of a multipurpose project that provides irrigation to Nueva Ecija’s rice lands. – Jed Macapagal
