September 29, 2016
LAOAG CITY—The Ilocos
Norte provincial board recently passed a resolution eliminating coal from the
province’s electric supply.
In its seventh regular
sessions held on August 15, the board unanimously approved Provincial
Resolution 017-2016, authored by the environment committee chairman, Board
Member Mariano Marcos II, declaring Ilocos Norte as a “clean, green and
coal-free province.”
“No office or
instrumentality of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte shall issue any
permit, authorization, endorsement or any expression of support to the
development of coal projects in the province,” the resolution said. The board
encouraged all two cities and 21 towns of the province to refrain from issuing
coal permits.
The resolution was
backed by environmental-advocacy groups, as well as the province’s largest
electric companies. It also makes Ilocos Norte the first province to phase out
coal use and become a total renewable-energy consumer.
With
its solar, wind and hydroelectric-energy sources, Ilocos Norte is already
generating about 50 percent of its power requirement from clean or renewable
energy.
With a 264-megawatt
installed wind- energy capacity as of 2015, Ilocos Norte is already dubbed the
undisputed wind-energy capital of the Philippines.
Since 2010 local
government initiatives have paved the way for Ilocos Norte to become home to
the 150-MW wind-power project of Energy Development Corp. (EDC), a unit of
First Gen Corp., in Burgos town; the 81-MW Caparispisan wind station of
Northern Luzon UPC Asia Corp.; and the 52-MW Bangui wind project of Northwind
Power and Development Corp.
The province is also
emerging as the country’s, if not Southeast Asia’s, renewable-energy capital
with the further development of the 5-MW Agua Grande hydroelectric power plant
in Pagudpud and solar farms, like the 20-MW solar-power facility of Soleq
Philippines Inc. in Barangay Paguludan in Currimao, and the 4.1-MW and 2.6-MW
solar farms in Burgos of EDC.
“The leadership of
Ilocos Norte has consciously supported renewable-energy development not only
because the province is endowed with the essential natural environment but also
because it is the only way to promote the economic prosperity of present and
future generations of Ilocanos that is friendly to the environment and is not
harmful to the people’s health and well-being,” the resolution said.
“Renewable energy has
also given the people of Ilocos Norte reason to be proud for significantly
contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions that harm the environment and
sadly render the country and the Filipinos among the most vulnerable in the
world to the devastating effects of climate change,” the resolution added.
It also said the
leadership of the province “continues to shy away from energy developments
using coal of any type because of its proven harmful effects to the
environment, dreaded impact to climate change, and menace to the health of the
people.”
“The province of Ilocos
Norte supports the national government in its commitment to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change through the Conference of Parties
21 to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent from expected levels in 2030,
given that its experience and success proves that concrete actions can be taken
now,” the Ilocos Norte provincial board declared.
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