Binga Dam is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

Agno River The Agno River, also known as the Pangasinan River, is a river on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Traversing the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, and Tarlac, it is one of the largest river systems in the country, with a drainage ar ...

connected to a

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

situated at Barrio Binga, Barangay Tinongdan in the municipality of Itogon in

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...

province of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The dam was constructed in August 1956 and opened in May 1960 under the government-owned National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR), three years after its sister facility, the

Ambuklao Dam Ambuklao Dam is part of a hydroelectric facility in Baragay Ambuclao, Bokod, Benguet province in the Philippines. With a maximum water storage capacity of , the facility, which is located from Baguio, can produce up to 105 megawatts of elect ...

. It is located southeast of

Baguio Baguio ( , , ), officially the City of Baguio (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

and downstream of Ambuklao Dam within the Upper Agno River Basin Resource Reserve. Improvement of the dam is ongoing, after it received heavy damage during the

1990 Luzon earthquake The 1990 Luzon earthquake occurred on July 16 at 4:26 p.m. (Daylight saving time in the Philippines, PDT) or 3:26 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time, PST) on the densely populated island of Luzon in the Philippines. The shock had a surfac ...

, and its installed capacity of 100 MW is being upgraded to 140 MW. The Binga facility was constructed in 1956 for power generation and

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

. The dam and other non-power components are owned by the government through the National Power Corporation.

Binga Hydro

On November 28, 2007, SNAP-Benguet won the public bid for Binga hydro and its neighboring power facility Ambuklao, which were sold as a package under the power sector privatization program of the Philippine government. It took over operations on July 10, 2008. Only the power components were privatized while the dams remain government-owned. SNAP-Benguet is a joint venture between SN Power of Norway and

Aboitiz Power Corporation Aboitiz Power Corporation also known as AboitizPower (AP), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), is a holding company engaged in power distribution, generation and retail electricity services. Background Aboitiz Power Corporation w ...

of the Philippines. In 2010, Binga underwent refurbishment to increase its capacity from 100 MW to 125 MW. The project was completed in July 2013. In 2014, Binga underwent uprating work and increased its capacity to 140 MW. Binga hydro operates as a peaking plant and is also capable of providing ancillary services needed to stabilize the grid.

References

Dams in the Philippines Hydroelectric power plants in the Philippines Dams completed in 1960 Buildings and structures in Benguet {{Philippines-struct-stub