WTE investor expects ROI in 15 yrs

CEBU, Philippines - The proponents of the Integrated Waste-To-Energy Project in Cebu City will recover their investment, if plans materialize, in 15 years.

Greenergy Solutions Inc.’s proposed Waste-To-Energy Gasification Facility at the Inayawan Landfill will have a contract for 25 years.

It will cost USD102 million or roughly P4 billion to construct.

GSI President Bernardo D. Tadeo said that 15 years is the average period that most facilities of this kind take to recoup the capital.

He said they are confident about the project since the agreement with the city and initial negotiation with other Local Government Units guarantees a supply of feedstock (waste) for 25 years.

The use of the Inayawan Landfill will be under a usufructuary agreement.

Atty. Ruth Briones, CEO of GSI, said that they will not take ownership of the lot, but in the contract, the city will allow them to use the portion they need, about 4 to 7 hectares, for a period of 25 years.

The rest of the 15.41-hectare landfill will be turned over to the city government once cleaned up.

“We will turn over it to the city so the city can convert it into something more useful,” Briones said.

The mayor originally wants to convert the landfill into a park or a housing site.

The rest of the provisions of the contract are held confidential until the council approves and the Mayor signs it.

The phase I of the proposed project will commence in the next six to nine months provided that the contract is signed this month.

 The phase I will include the development and construction of the Material Recovery Facility and the Refused Derived Fuel Plant. The MRF and RDF Plant will employ over 200 scavengers at the Inayawan.

Anita Celdran, Country Manager of Endesa Carbono, said that the project will not displace the scavengers as jobs will be reserved for them at the facility. Endesa Carbono conducted the study of the landfill gas facility in 2007 and successfully registered the project under the Clean Development Mechanism Project 4669 of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The initial end-product of Phase I will be the pellets of about 30 millimeters in particle size, which is an alternative to coal. The pellets will be sold to coal-based power plant companies within and outside Cebu. The other end-product, which is fertilizer, will be initially given to the farmers for free.

Tadeo said that the feasibility study included the identification of the market for the end-products and they have identified several cement companies that will be willing to buy products from them.

The phase II of the project will be the construction and development of the Waste-To-Energy Plant which will take 18 to 24 months. The commercial operation date is expected to start in 2014.

Briones said that under Republic Act 9513 or the Renewable Energy Law, renewable energy facilities get the priority purchase of electricity generated.

It means that the City’s WTE, if ever, will be prioritized in the grid.

Tadeo said that initially, they can sell the electricity to be generated by the WTE plant at P7 per kilowatt hour.

GSI has enumerated the benefits of the project to Cebu City if materialized.

Among the benefits will be a long-term integrated solution for Solid Waste Management, millions of savings for not having to operate the landfill and not having to divert the garbage to Consolacion, savings on environment cost like less illegal dumping, cleaner water and cleaner surroundings, among others.

Celdran said that the city’s revenue on the project will be more on the savings that it will get because it no longer has to operate the landfill and no longer has to remediate it.

“Remediating the landfill can be very expensive,” Celdran said. She said that the facility will also eliminate the foul odor that goes all the way to the South Road Properties.  (FREEMAN)