Is there really a need to have a coal-powered plant in Davao City? Are there no other sources of power aside from coal? How will such a power plant affect the people and the environment? Is there such a thing as environment-friendly coal-powered plant? What will happen to the city’s economy if no such power plant is built?
These are some of the questions that need to be answered should Davao City and Davao del Sur (particularly Santa Cruz town) become the beneficiaries of the planned coal-powered plant of the Aboitiz Power Corporation.
Coal is a fossil fuel formed in ecosystems where plants remain preserved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation, thus sequestering atmospheric carbon. Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black rock.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, shares this information: “Coal is a sedimentary rock, but the harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rocks because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. It is composed primarily of carbon and hydrogen along with small quantities of other elements, notably sulfur. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, either underground mining or open pit mining (surface mining).”
Around the world, coal is a sought-after energy source. “Coal has the largest reserve and is often the cheapest of the fuel options,” the Department of Energy points out. “The Philippines is largely a coal consuming country with coal having the highest contribution to the power generation mix at 27% in 2005.”
According to the energy department, the coal industry has never been so robust than these past three years. “Increased production is expected in the near future as new contracts get to full blown production, and exploration contracts convert to production agreements,” the energy department states.
In Mindanao, the electricity sources are coal, diesel, geothermal, and hydropower. Of these, 51 percent comes from hydropower. Its heavy dependence on hydropower makes the island vulnerable to weather conditions. “This is the reason why during summer and the El Niño phenomenon Mindanao experiences power shortage,” said Manuel M. Orig, first vice president for Mindanao affairs of the Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC).
If nothing is done soon, blackouts will become a way of life in Mindanao. “While there are still small hydropower sites that are available for development, there are few, if any, large hydropower sites available for development like the Agus and Pulangui hydro electric plants,” he said
In the coming years, how huge will the power needs of Mindanao be? “The demand (for electricity) is increasing and yet the supply is decreasing,” according to Orig. Currently, there is a shortfall between supply and demand for power.
From 2010 to 2014, it is projected that the shortfall between supply and demand for power in Mindanao will reach 484 megawatt (MW). “This is equivalent to cutting power supply to five major cities in Mindanao,” said Orig.
Davao City heads the list. The other four are Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iligan, and Zamboanga.
“Unless a new power plant is built, the situation is going to get worse,” Orig warned. “Investment will not come in, jobs will be lost, factories may shut down, and the people of Mindanao will have blackouts of up to six hours a day by 2014.”
Thus, APC is bent on helping the island by building a coal-powered plant. It is investing around P25 billion for the project. “The project will be built on a 52-hetare property straddling barangay Binugao, Toril in Davao City and barangay Inawayan in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur,” it said in a press briefing kit.
Two generation units with a capacity of 150 MW each will be built. Construction will take an estimated 40 months after the approval of the project by government agencies and local government units.
Two-thirds of the plant will be in Davao City. So, one wonders: Why should it be built in Davao and not in other parts of Mindanao? Southern Mindanao, of which Davao City is a part of, consumes more than half of the island’s power needs. And yet, “only 20 percent of Mindanao’s power is being produced in southern Mindanao,” the briefing paper says.
“Being the biggest user of power in Mindanao, it is best that Davao City build sufficient power plants to ensure the security of its power supply,” Orig said.Currently, southern Mindanao relies on northern Mindanao for its power and this power needs to be transported through long transmission lines.Consumers pay for the use of these transmission lines. When these lines are damaged, the Davao region gets isolated.
According to Orig, the economic and social benefits that accrue to Davao City and its people for hosting the plant are tremendous and far-reaching.Among the benefits cited are: investments of upward to P15 billion, P0.01/kwh share of total electricity sales as financial reward, and regular employment for some 200 people.
In addition, by hosting the power plant, Davao will become the city in Mindanao “with the most reliable power supply, if not the Philippines.” It will also “hold its position as one of the most competitive cities in the country.”
But there are people and organizations which are against the construction of a coal-powered plant in Davao City. The Network Opposed to Coal or No to Coal (No to Coal-Davao), for instance, urges the local government of Davao “to stand by its legacy of strong environmental advocacy.”
“Davao City has prohibited the smoking of cigarettes in public places to protect non-smokers from the negative effects of cigarette smoke. A 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant will emit 1.7 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide and tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen, mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Why then should we allow this?” asked Dr. Jean Lindo, an anesthesiologist, who is among the convenors of No to Coal-Davao.
But APC maintained it would build a new technology that is environment-friendly. “Old coal-fired power plants are indeed dirty. However, there is a technology at present that makes coal power generation efficient, affordable, and clean,” the briefing kit says.
“Anything that is old – like cars, equipment, appliances – can be dangerous and dirty,” it adds. “That is why we replace them with brand new ones that are safe and clean.”
“A circulating fluidized-bed coal-fired power plant” is how APC calls the new technology. “It burns coal efficiently,” the briefing kit explains. “Limestone is mixed in the process to help reduce gas emissions and makes it easy for ash collection.”
The collected ash will be sold to cement factories, which in turn use it as ingredient for manufacturing process. “Any excess ash will be deposited in a fully secured ash pond,” the briefing kit assures.
But even then, the No to Coal-Davao believes “there is also no such thing as clean coal technology because there is no way carbon emitted can be trapped completely.” For his part, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte supports the construction of the coal-fired power plant after visiting the Steag coal plant in Misamis Oriental.
“Naay pollution,” Duterte was quoted as saying, “but its threat to the environment is not as destructive and as profound. If it has a zero noise pollution, then I am for it.”
Aside from coal, are there no other sources of power for Mindanao? Power from solar and wind, while very good, are not very reliable. “They only operate at certain times of the year and could not generate huge amount of power,” Orig says. “They are also very expensive on the part of the builder and the consumers.”
