DAVAO CITY—It is one opponent Manny Pacquiao can’t knock out.
The coal-fired power plant in Pacquiao’s home province, Sarangani, is nearing completion and it appears no one, not even the Philippines’ most famous boxer, could stop it.
Edmar Derla, chief of the Department of Energy’s oil industry management division, said the coal-fired plant has been commissioned to supply 200 megawatts of electricity to southern Mindanao.
Exporters, in need of a stable supply of power for their businesses, have expressed concern over Pacquiao’s entry into the fray. The boxer-turned-politician has agreed to become a poster boy for the campaign against coal-fired power plants, one of the dirtiest sources of electricity.
But Derla said there was nothing Pacquiao, now a congressman, or anyone else could do to stop the project.
Derla said the project is already commissioned despite token opposition from the diocese of Koronadal.
He said the plant, being built by Conal Holdings, would help ease the shortage of electricity in Mindanao. Conal Holdings is a corporation that counts among its owners the Alcantara Group and the family of Sarangani Gov. Miguel Dominguez.
Derla said power outages in Mindanao at the height of the El Niño became a wake-up call for energy officials that too much dependence on hydropower isn’t good.
“It’s understandable because Mindanao gets 53 percent of its total power requirements from hydropower,” he said.
He said while Mindanao could count on at least 1,862 megawatts of electricity, mostly from hydropower, it still needs new power plants because its current demand for 1,241 megawatts was expected to grow by at least 4.3 percent every year.
By 2017, he said, Mindanao would require 660 megawatts more of power.
“Everything will be falling into place,” said Derla.Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao
The coal-fired power plant in Pacquiao’s home province, Sarangani, is nearing completion and it appears no one, not even the Philippines’ most famous boxer, could stop it.
Edmar Derla, chief of the Department of Energy’s oil industry management division, said the coal-fired plant has been commissioned to supply 200 megawatts of electricity to southern Mindanao.
Exporters, in need of a stable supply of power for their businesses, have expressed concern over Pacquiao’s entry into the fray. The boxer-turned-politician has agreed to become a poster boy for the campaign against coal-fired power plants, one of the dirtiest sources of electricity.
But Derla said there was nothing Pacquiao, now a congressman, or anyone else could do to stop the project.
Derla said the project is already commissioned despite token opposition from the diocese of Koronadal.
He said the plant, being built by Conal Holdings, would help ease the shortage of electricity in Mindanao. Conal Holdings is a corporation that counts among its owners the Alcantara Group and the family of Sarangani Gov. Miguel Dominguez.
Derla said power outages in Mindanao at the height of the El Niño became a wake-up call for energy officials that too much dependence on hydropower isn’t good.
“It’s understandable because Mindanao gets 53 percent of its total power requirements from hydropower,” he said.
He said while Mindanao could count on at least 1,862 megawatts of electricity, mostly from hydropower, it still needs new power plants because its current demand for 1,241 megawatts was expected to grow by at least 4.3 percent every year.
By 2017, he said, Mindanao would require 660 megawatts more of power.
“Everything will be falling into place,” said Derla.Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao
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