By Richel V. Umel
Friday, August 30, 2013
KAUSWAGAN, Lanao del Norte –- In this once conflict-affected town, a multibillion coal-fired power plant will rise covering some 85 hectares of a coastal village of Libertad (formerly known as Lapayan).
Kauswagan town mayor Rommel Arnado told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro that the construction of the P50 billion worth 540 Megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant will start in December this year.
The clearing operations of the plant facility have been completed and the construction of 310 single detach houses in the upper portion of Barangay Libertad is ongoing. Marinduque Industrial Enterprise Inc., former Marinduque Mining Corporation (MMC) donated the land to relocate the residents affected with the construction of the power plant. The municipal hall facilitates the relocation.
The residents will get the houses for free and will be provided with function hall, community store, plaza, potable water system, electricity, day care center, and health station.
Mayor Arnado said the coal-fired power plant project will use the state-of-the-art clean air technology under GN Power, an Oregon-based company from the United States. Its counterpart in the Philippines is PMR Incorporated in partnership with Ayala Corporation.
"Based on document presented by the investor earlier, the emission would be at .001 percent. By November, the Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) hopefully will be in-placed and the construction of the power facility will start in December,’ Arnado said.
“For the first three years the coal plant will operate at 405MW," Arnado added.
The GN Power assured of a well-protected and balance environment that will be conducive for a healthy living condition for both residents in the coast and the upland, Arnado said.
"This would be the biggest and the cheapest power facility in Mindanao which will cater to the 33 electric cooperatives which are members of Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (AMRECO) and cover the power deficiency supply of Mindanao," he said.
Project benefits
"Aside from cheaper electricity, the town will earn a remarkable Real Property Tax, as a fifth class municipality, there would be greater chances to elevate and accelerate its classification into a second class town. By the time the plant will be fully operational, the projected revenue will soar to P100 million" Arnado said.
Employment opportunity for "Kauswaganon" (town residents) will be given priority to include some livelihood options and be a recipient of a special power rate.
In Maasim, Sarangani province, the P13-Billion Sarangani Energy Corporation (SEC) of Alsons Power is on track in completing the first 105 MW phase of the 210 MW, a coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani by September of 2015.
Oscar Benedict E. Contreras III, manager of communications and stakeholder relations, said the basic engineering and construction for the SEC plant began in June of 2012 and went into high gear with the official turnover of the construction site to the plant’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor –- Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd, (Daelim) of South Korea last February 8.
Contreras said, the clearing operations for the plant site were completed on May 20.
Daelim and the SEC project team are currently preparing the power block area which will contain the SEC plant’s core components –- the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler to generate steam from coal and the steam-driven turbine generator that will produce the electricity.
Production of the SEC plant’s state-of-the-art steam turbine generator is under way at the factory of Japan’s Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. in Kawasaki, Japan. Fuji Electric is a leading manufacturer and designer of turbines and generators for thermal, geothermal, hydroelectric and nuclear power plants, Contreras added.
The P13 billion SEC plant is intended to be part of a long-term solution to the current power shortage in Mindanao.
The full 105 MW capacity of the plant’s first phase has already been booked by various Mindanao power cooperatives including: the South Cotabato 2 Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SOCOTECO II), the Agusan Del Norte Electric Cooperative (ANECO), the Agusan Del Sur Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ASELCO) and the Davao Del Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (DANECO). The 10 MW of the plant’s second 105 MW phase has been booked by the South Cotabato I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SOCOTECO-I).
The Phase two of the SEC plant is expected to begin operating by 2016.
Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR) –- the publicly-listed company of the Alcantara Group holds 75 percent equity in SEC while the remaining 25 percent is owned by Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) –- the trading company of the Toyota Group.
Apart from the SEC plant, ACR is in the advanced stages of developing the 105 MW San Ramon Power, Inc. coal-fired power plant in Sitio San Ramon, Talisayan, Zamboanga City.
ACR’s other power subsidiaries include the Western Mindanao Power Corporation’s 100 MW diesel plant in Zamboanga City, the Southern Philippines Power Corporation’s 55 MW diesel plant in Sarangani province, Mapalad Power Corporation’s 98 MW Iligan Diesel Power Plant in Iligan City and the power plant operations and management company of Alto Power Management Corporation. source
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