Church backs P4B solar power plan,but Gov. Maranon favors coal more

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. said he is more in favor of putting up coal-fired power plants here than building solar power plants, to address the energy needs of Negros Occidental.

The Bacolod Diocese headed by Bishop Vicente Navarra has earlier expressed support for the P4-billion solar power plant project, proposed by the Korean-based Youil Renewable Energy Corporation, to be put up in E.B. Magalona town with a projected output of 40 megawatts (MW).

Youil officials yesterday presented to the municipal council of E. B. Magalona their solar power proposal, including the plan to buy the land, estimated to be 71 hectares, to be used for the construction of the solar power plant.

Maranon however was not inclined to this, contending that coal is more viable, along with nuclear energy, liquefied gas, and dendro energy. He argued that even if the cost of solar power is cheap, putting up its plant is more expensive.

Solar energy is good only for those with smaller energy consumption like household appliances, but when you want to address the needs of bigger establishments, it is not viable, said the governor.

Gregory Lofamia, regional manager of Youil Renewable Energy Corp., however countered that solar power is the cheapest power priced at 12 cents per kilowatt hour under the Feed in Tariff rules authorized under ERC Resolution No. 16 series of 2000.

Aside from the solar power plant, four more power plants are being proposed to be constructed in Negros Occidental to answer the expected power shortage here by 2014.

Three hydro-electric power plants with a combined production of 67 megawatts, and a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 80 megawatts, are expected to be built in Negros Occidental soon.

Global Business Power Corp. plans to construct a coal-fired power in northwestern side of the province, while hydro-electric power plants will be constructed in the cities of Bago, Kabankalan, and Sagay.

The stirrings over the appropriate kind of power to be put up came after Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras told provincial legal officer Jose Ma. Valencia that Negros Occidental must have its own power plant as soon as possible to avert a power shortage by 2014 or 2015.

Almendras said with the double digit economic growth in the province, it must have its own power plant to meet its projected increase in demand in the future.

Valencia admitted that the submarine cables transmitting power from Cebu and Panay islands to Negros Occidental can bog down anytime, and the outcome could be disastrous to the province.

Negros Occidental needs a power plant with at least 100 mW, Almendras was quoted as telling the provincial official. —THE FREEMAN