Government OKs Tipco cogeneration power plant

The government has approved the 50 megawatt coal-fired co-generation power plant project to Trust International Paper Corp. (TIPCO), Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday.

Formosa Heavy Industries is set to build a $90-million power co-generation facility project in the country that will supply electricity to TIPCO.

The two companies signed a memorandum of agreement in Taiwan last Aug. 20 with Roxas witnessing the signing between Formosa Heavy Industries executive vice president K.H. Wu and TIPCO chairman and chief executive officer Elon Ting.

Formosa Heavy Industries is one of the leading power suppliers in Taiwan, while TIPCO is a paper manufacturer based in Mabalacat, Pampanga and exports $70 million worth of paper products annually.

TIPCO is the country’s largest paper mill and uses only recycled paper as raw materials.

Exports accounted for TIPCO’s production output with Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan, India, Thailand and Nigeria, as its major buyers.

TIPCO directly employs 1,000 workers while 5,000 are indirectly employed.

To be viable and competitive, TIPCO decided to put up its own generating plants considering that the cost of power in the country is among the highest in Asia.

With its own power plant, TIPCO expects to bring down its power cost from $0.08 per kilowatt to $0.05 per kilowatt hour.

Roxas said that the TIPCO project was taken up in the Cabinet where it was discussed fully.

The decision-making process, Roxas said, was collegial even though Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez was not around when the project was discussed.