MetroPac to convert QC waste into power

• Source: http://thestandard.com.ph/business/217759/metropac-to-convert-qc-waste-into-power.html
• Monday, October 3, 2016

By Jenniffer B. Austria

Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is investing P15 billion to build a waste-to-energy project in Payatas, Quezon City.

Metro Pacific teamed up with US-based Covanta, a world leader in providing sustainable waste and energy solutions, and Macquarie as technical partners for the venture.

Metro Pacific chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the unsolicited project would be subject to the approval of the Quezon City government.

“If we are successful here, this can be template for other local government units to address their solid waste and dumping. Nobody wants these wastes to be dumped in their backyard,” Pangilinan said.

The proposed facility will have a capacity to handle 3,000 tons a day of solid waste and produce 30 to 40 megawatts of power.

Covanta, based in New Jersey, has over 50 waste-to-energy facilities around the world, handling 20 million tons of wastes which are enough to produce renewable energy to power one million homes.

This is the second attempt of Metro Pacific group to build a waste-to-energy project in the country. Metro Pacific signed an investment agreement with GGI Energy Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company in 2014 for the development of a waste-to-energy facility in Tagum, Davao del Norte.

The facility was supposed to produce 2 MW of power and 10,000 liters of biodiesel a day, with an option to expand it to 6 MW. The project is estimated to cost P600 million to P700 million.

Metro Pacific announced last year it terminated the investment agreement with GGI Energy because of the “non-completion of the conditions precedent under the investment agreement by the stipulated long stop date.”

Metro Pacific said it would continue to purse waste-to-energy projects in the country to address issues on solid waste management and increased demand for electricity.

The infrastructure conglomerate earlier said it was looking at creating a portfolio of waste-to-energy facilities with a generating capacity of 300 MW in the coming years.

Metro Pacific currently has investments in hospitals, power generation, tollroads, logistics and water utility.