San Roque Dam (Philippines)

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San Roque Dam
Location in Luzon Show map of Luzon Location in the Philippines Show map of Philippines
Location	San Manuel and San Nicolas, Pangasinan; and Itogon, Benguet, Philippines
Coordinates	16°08′45″N 120°41′02″E / 16.145701°N 120.683784°E / 16.145701; 120.683784
Construction began	1998
Opening date	May 1, 2003
Construction cost	US $1.19 billion
Operator(s)	San Roque Multi-purpose Project
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Agno River
Height	200 m (660 ft)
Length	1,130 m (3,710 ft)
Reservoir
Total capacity	835 million cubic metres (677,000 acre⋅ft)
Power Station
Hydraulic head	150.4 m (493 ft)
Turbines	3 Vertical shaft Francis turbines
Installed capacity	345 MW 435 MW (max)

The San Roque Dam, operated under San Roque Multipurpose Project (SRMP) is a 200-meter-tall, 1.2-kilometre (0.75 mi) long embankment dam on the Agno River. It is the largest dam in the Philippines and sixteenth largest in the world (see List of largest dams in the world). It spans the municipalities of San Manuel and San Nicolas, Pangasinan, nearly 200 km north of Metro Manila.

The dam impounds a reservoir with a surface area of about 12.8 square kilometers extending North into the municipality of Itogon in Benguet. A gated spillway protects the dam from overtopping. Each wet season, the run-off is stored for later release via water turbines to generate power and irrigate crops.

Agno River is the third largest river in the Philippines with a total length of 221 kilometers and a drainage basin at the Project site of 1,225 square kilometers. The river originates in the Cordillera Mountains, initially flows from north to south, divides into several channels in the flat central plain of Luzon and meanders westerly through the provinces of Pangasinan and Tarlac before emptying into Lingayen Gulf. The dam and its immediate river basin are protected as a forest reserve known as the Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve.^[1]

San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) financed and constructed the SRMP under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the National Power Corporation (NPC) on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. SRPC substantially completed the SRMP at midnight, February 14, 2003, at which time its peaking power, irrigation, flood control and enhanced water quality benefits became available to the surrounding regions, which include the Northwest Luzon Economic Growth Quadrangle. In reality, all but its power benefits have been available since mid-2002 when the dam and spillway were completed.

Ownership of the dam and spillway was transferred to NPC upon construction completion, as it contributed funds for the non-power components on behalf of several agencies. SRPC will own and operate the power generating facilities for 25 years, after which their ownership transfers to NPC.