On a weekend trip my family and I took to San Pablo Laguna in the Philippines, we made a really random stop at a place I’d never heard of before: Pililla Wind Farm (also known as Rizal Wind Farm). It’s located in a province called Rizal and is about 60 kilometers (about two hours) southeast of Metro Manila.
My family and I didn’t spend too much time here because it was really windy, but in the time we were there, which was probably less than an hour, I thoroughly enjoyed feeling the strong winds blowing. It’s not something I get to experience too often so it was nice to be up there.
We didn’t have to pay any fee to visit Pililla Wind Farm, although I think some of my family spent a little bit of money to buy sweets or other knick knacks being sold by the small children who greeted us as soon as we got out of the car.
I didn’t know much about the wind farm when we visited, but according to an archived webpage I found online, it has 27 wind turbine generators and was expected to yield 154 gigawatthours per year. To put things into perspective, that would’ve been enough to power the state of California for more than half the year in 2014.
While we walked around the farm, my cousin and I found a little pathway that were able to climb up to get a more panoramic view of the area. There was a small fee to access that pathway, I think P10 or P20 per person.
It was beautiful at the top! We were able to see more windmills and were able to see that the farm was bigger than it looked from the bottom. Unfortunately, the wind was even more violent in that area so we didn’t last very long up there. It was hard to keep my eyes fully open and the gusts of wind were so strong that it almost felt like they could whip my hair off. (Tip: don’t wear a hat here or you’re probably going to lose it to the wind!)
When we got down, we took some time to watch the sunset before heading out.
If you’re ever in Rizal or are looking for stops to include on a road trip that passes through Rizal, Pililla Wind Farm is pretty nice. There are local vendors around the place selling fresh coconuts, souvenirs, etc. so you can have something to drink or take back with you when you leave.
You can read a little more about Pililla Wind Farm here.