P15.5B coal power plant to generate 2T jobs

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A P15.5 billion coal-fired power plant, now set to rise in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental in 2018, is expected to generate 2,000 jobs for Negrenses.

Ceasar Ibañez Lao-as, president and chief and executive officer of Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc., issued this statement during the signing of power agreements with Energy Earth at a hotel in this city on Monday.

Lao-as said Negros Occidental will soon reach power independence, which will open doors for major businesses due to reliable power supply. He said the power plant is expected to break ground in the last quarter of this year.

The agreements between the two companies involved a long-term coal supply, of at least 20 million metric tons, by Energy Earth to the power plant for a period of 25 years.

The joint venture agreement covered mining in Indonesia for supply of coal to power plants and other customers in the Philippines, while the memorandum of understanding was for acquiring coal mines and building coal-fired power plants in the Philippines.

Lao-as expounded the economic benefits of the coal-fired power plant, which will be located at Barangay Banquerohan in Cadiz City. When completed, the plant will also generate jobs and income from taxes that will benefit the province.

On its first phase, the plant will generate 150 megawatts of power, which will be expandable to 300 mW.

Lao-as dismissed apprehensions of environmentalists on the project, saying that it will be among the first coal-fired power plants in the country to use a “clean technology,” which is the circulating fluidized bed combustion boiler technology.

This  is a specially developed technology, used worldwide, for reducing sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions, which is acceptable to air emission standards enforced by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Lao-as further noted that the power plant has a strong support and endorsement from the city government and the Environmental Impact Assessment study, adding that DENR has also issued a Environmental Compliance Certificate for the project.

He said that the power plant is eyed to support the Electricity Development Plan of the Department of Energy for 2015 to 2017 by supplying into the projected deficit of around 250 mW of electricity in the Visayas grid.

The power plant will make Negros island independent of externally supplied electricity deficit from other islands through the Visayas grid delivered via submarine cables.

Lao-as added that the electricity generated by the power plant can be supplied to three electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental: the North Negros Electric Cooperative Inc., the Central Negros Electric Cooperative Inc., and the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative Inc.