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Sarangani Province, Philippines (view source)
Revision as of 00:15, 11 April 2012
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==[[Sarangani News]]== | ==[[Sarangani News]]== | ||
''' | '''PNoy PREEMPTS ENERGY SUMMIT, APPROVED MORE COAL-POWERED PLANTS''' | ||
*Source: http:// | *Source: http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl111735.htm | ||
* | *APRIL 11, 2012 | ||
:by | :by John Anthony Concepcion | ||
DAVAO CITY, APRIL 11, 2012 (MANILA STANDARD) Written by Christine F. Herrera - Critics bare ‘midnight deals’ on coal power plants | |||
President Benigno Aquino III has approved “midnight deals” to build more coal-fired plants in Mindanao days ahead of an Energy Summit here, locking the island into a dirty source of power for decades, lawmakers and environmentalists said Monday. | |||
The eight- | “The Mindanao Energy Summit was supposed to give the stakeholders options for short- and long-term solutions to the power crisis, but no option is being offered because the contracts for coal are already a done deal,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said. | ||
“Is there a conspiracy to ram fossil-fuel power as the solution? Would this not reduce the power summit to a farce, giving Mindanao consumers no choice but to stick to more expensive, dirty, non-renewable power?” | |||
The | |||
Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director, said environmental compliance certificates were hastily approved for the coal plants despite opposition from the communities in Mindanao. | |||
“The hasty approval … confirms earlier suspicions that pro-coal business interests were out to capitalize on the current crisis to railroad government approval of such environmentally sensitive projects that should have undergone better scrutiny,” Hernandez said. | |||
Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones, who comes from Cotabato, urged Congress to exercise its oversight powers to review the deals. | |||
At a pre-summit conference last week, Energy Undersecretary Josephine Patricia Asirit said some 700 megawatts would be generated from the coal-fired power plants and that the 100-megawatt Iligan diesel plant owned by the Alcantaras would be revived pending clearance from the Audit Commission. | |||
Asirit said Mindanao had a daily demand of 1,200 megawatts and a shortfall of 100 megawatts, and that demand was growing at 50 megawatts yearly. Some 1,400 megawatts would be in the pipelines for Mindanao from October 2012 to 2014. | |||
Asirit identified the coal-fired projects as a 200-megawatt coal-fired plant by Conal Holdings of the Alcantaras in 2014, a 200-megawatt coal-fired plant by STEAG in the last quarter of 2014, a 300-megawatt coal-fired plant by Therma South of the Aboitizes in 2014, and a 15-megawatt oil-based plant by EEI Power Corp. in October 2012. | |||
The 50-megawatt Mt. Apo 3 geothermal plant and a 5-megawatt wind farm would also be operational by 2014 and 2015, respectively. | |||
Providing extra power would be the eight-megawatt Cabulig hydroelectric plant by Minergy, a 35-megawatt biomass facility by Green Power Bukidnon in 2013, the 225-megawatt Agus 3 hydroelectric plant by Lanao Hydropower Development Corp. in 2015, the 20-megawatt Tagoloan hydroelectric plant by Mindanao Hydro Power Corp. in 2016, and the 12-megawatt Tamugan hydroelectric plant by Hedcor in 2018. | |||
Asirit said coal and diesel would make up the region’s base load because of the unreliability and seasonality of the hydrothermal plants. | |||
Only 350 megawatts was approved for geothermal and other renewable energy sources. | |||
Coal, power barges and diesel cost P9 a kilowatt hour compared with P2 for hydroelectric power and P2.80 for geothermal power. | |||
Citing Asirit’s presentation at the pre-summit conference, Hernandez said the Energy Department had confirmed that four coal plants and one coal power plant expansion were in the pipeline for Mindanao. | |||
“One of the plans [was] approved early this week, ironically, with a promise from the President to expedite the construction process of the harmful facility. Last November 2011, the government gave the go-signal for a coal plant in Sarangani, and before that in July, [President Aquino] was guest of honor in the inauguration of another coal facility in the Visayas. | |||
“Should the other projects in Mindanao push through, President Aquino’s administration would have approved more coal plants than any of his predecessors.” | |||
“With this midnight approval, the government has succeeded in creating a truly agonizing Holy Week scenario for the people of Mindanao, replete with episodes of sacrifice, false prophets, and public betrayal.” | |||
Hernandez reminded the President of his campaign promise to support the development of renewable energy and to phase out coal-fired power plants. | |||
“We thought this administration would approach this problem with a greater measure of integrity and sophistication,” Hernandez said. | |||
“On the contrary, he has allowed coal pushers in his team to overturn his pledge as evidenced by the [Energy Department’s] existing plans to build an unprecedented number of coal plants during his term. The President should be advised that each coal plant he builds edges out the opportunity for the people of this country to harness clean and renewable power.” | |||
Greenpeace claims there is no such things as “clean coal plants,” and that there were no commercially available technologies that could remove mercury, a deadly neurotoxin that accumulates in the environment and in the food chain, or carbon dioxide, which causes climate change. | |||
Casiño, meanwhile, said he had learned that in an April 4 pre-summit meeting in Davao, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras ordered Mindanao’s electric cooperatives to buy expensive power from the privatized power barges at P14 a kilowatt hour, with the government shouldering P9 per kilowatt hour. | |||
Almendras, he said, also reportedly ordered local government officials to immediately approve the environmental compliance certificates for at least two new coal-fired power plants in Mindanao. | |||
“If that is the case, then the power summit would just be a rubber stamp... which forces consumers to pay an additional 50 to 80 centavos per kilowatt hour for their electricity due to the manipulations of favored private power generators like Therma Marine Inc. owned by the Aboitizes, ” Casiño said. | |||
He said he found it strange that the government was willing to subsidize diesel power at P9 a kilowatt hour when it would be cheaper and more sustainable to subsidize solar and other renewable energy sources. | |||
Asirit told the pre-summit conference that power rate increases were inevitable. | |||
“What makes Mindanao different from Visayas and Luzon is its rich potential for renewable energy, from solar, hydro, geothermal to biomass. Why not tap these instead of the more expensive and dirty fossil fuel technologies?” Casiño said. | |||
Also on Monday, administration Senator Serge Osmeña III chided the electric cooperatives for opposing the privatization of the government-owned plants on the island, saying it was mandated by law. He his view that the people of Mindanao had been enjoying subsidies for too long. | |||
“The Mindanao cooperatives have their own version of the economic law of supply and demand,” Osmeña, chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission, told the Manila Standard in a text message. | |||
“They demand subsidized electricity and the rest of the country must supply. What about the rest of the population who have been paying market rates for almost 10 years?” | |||
The senator was reacting to the position paper submitted by the 33-member Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, which urges the government to forgo plans to sell its power plants in Mindanao to prevent a spike in energy prices. | |||
Osmeña said the privatization of government-owned plants was mandated by law to attract the private sector to enter the power generation business. | |||
“Private owners do not and cannot afford to compete with government, which can operate at a loss,” he said. | |||
==Photo Gallery of Sarangani, Philippines== | ==Photo Gallery of Sarangani, Philippines== | ||