Davao City okays Aboitiz Power coal-fired plant

Manila Standard Today

by Jeremiah F. de Guzman

Aboitiz Power Corp. has received the nod of the Davao City government to push through with its 300-megawatt coal-fired power project.

Aboitiz Power said in a statement the P25-billion coal-fired power plant project, operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary Therma South Inc., obtained the go-signal from the Davao City council during its regular session on June 7.

Therma South plans to use the clean coal technology to reduce harmful emissions of the power plant.

The technology allows highly efficient production of electricity while capturing harmful particulates (sulfur and carbon dioxide) with sorbents and precipitators to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.

Twenty-three of the 24 present councilors endorsed the project, saying it would help supply the city’s growing power needs and address the supply crisis in Mindanao.

“We need power for the city. This vote was about control. We want this plant inside Davao so we will have control and jurisdiction over it,” Davao City vice mayor and presiding officer Rodrigo Duterte said in a statement.

The city committees on energy, environment, health and trade has conducted three hearings on the project since April that allowed both the project proponent and oppositors a chance to present their respective position on the project.

“Given the advances of modern technology and with the direct and constant supervision of government, a coal-fired power plant is relatively safe for the environment and human health and shall follow appropriate emission standards,” joint committee chairman Pilar Braga read from the report.

Davao City’s approval was issued more than two months after the neighboring municipality of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur approved the project. Host barangays Binugao (Davao City) and Inawayan (Sta. Cruz) also issued separate resolutions posing no objection to the project in April.

“The positive outcome of the council’s deliberations reconfirms the joint effort of the public and private sectors in solving the power situation in Davao City in particular and Mindanao in general. We have been in Mindanao since the 1930’s and remain committed to provide Mindanao with competitive power to support its development,” Aboitiz Power president Erramon Aboitiz said.

The company operates hydro-electric power plants in Davao and Benguet, and is set to build more hydroelectric power plants in the next two years.