Napocor claims coal power plants conform with standards

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) assured the public yesterday that its coal-fired power plants – the Calaca plant in Batangas, Masinloc plant in Zambales and its IPP-supplier power plants in Pagbilao, Quezon; Sual in Pangasinan and Toledo, Cebu – conform to international environmental standards and to those of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Napocor officer in-charge Roland Quilala made this assurance in the wake of a mounting campaign against coal-fired power plants apparently launched by vested interests which stand to gain from the closure of the power plants.

Quilala said that the Napocor power plants adhere strictly to international environmental standards for coal-fired power plants and to the environmental compliance clearance of the DENR.

He said the plants underwent million-dollar environment improvement upgrading and are equipped with environmental monitoring systems to assure quality of exhaust air and water emitted by the plants.

In particular, Quilala cited the fact that the Environmental Control System for the old Calaca I power plant was extensively upgraded from 1994 to 2000 under an equivalent $60-million loan from Japan’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF).

He explained that the environment improvement project covered a whole range of pollution abatement systems like electrostatic precipitators, coal dust suppression system, retrofit of economizer ash handling system, installation of windbreak fences and the modernization of the Environmental Monitoring System worth more than $1 million.

Quilala noted that the Calaca plant was particularly targeted by a well-funded campaign to discredit coal-fired power plants in the country and to eventually cause the shutdown of the Calaca power plant and other Napocor-runcoal-fired power plants.

Belying self-serving claims of detractors, Quilala said the Calaca plant is being monitored closely by vigilant multi-party environmental teams that include representatives of the DENR, the local government units and non-government organizations in Calaca and Balayan. They assure the strict compliance with the government’s environmental standards, he said.

"There is no basis to call for a very expensive shutdown of government-owned coal-fired power plants like the Calaca plant," Quilala said.

He warned that if Calaca or any of the state-owned coal-fired power plants is shutdown, Napocor will continue to pay for its loans for the power plant and for the domestic coal from Semirara which is contracted for 15 years.

"All these costs will aggravate the PPA charges and will unduly penalize consumers and the taxpaying public," Quilala said.

Quilala added: "As government agency, we assure the public that Napocor adheres to the protection of the environment in all its power generation facilities."

"Napocor is proud of the environmental improvements it has made in Calaca I. Calaca II was built with upgraded environmental control equipment. If ever there are any additional improvements that can be made, we believe it is in the area of landscaping. We intend to improve the landscaping of the Calaca power plant complex to make it comparable to, if not, better than Pagbilao and Sual, Quilala said.

Quilala invited critics of the coal-fired power plants, along with community leaders and NGOs, legislators and the media to visit Calaca so they can see the true picture.