By Ernie Esconde/PNA
British banker David Wood (right) and business partner Edgardo Rivera (left) discuss their project of operating a 100 megawatt power plant using solid wastes in Bataan. The provincial government announced on Friday (April 5, 2019)that the proposed power plant will require funding of USD500 million. (Photo by Ernie Esconde)
BALANGA CITY, Bataan — The provincial government announced Friday that a British banker has presented a proposal to build a 100-megawatt (MGW) power plant using solid wastes with funding of USD500 million.
Vice Governor Crisanta Garcia said documentation was already ongoing for the proponent’s desire to set up the plant at the Freeport Area of Bataan in Mariveles town.
“It will be the first such technology converting solid wastes to energy in Bataan,” she said.
Banker David Wood, also the chief executive officer (CEO) of cocopower and who will fund the project, said it will be under the public-private partnership (PPP) but with almost no cost for the provincial government.
Mar Supnad, a journalist who introduced the investors to provincial officials, said the provincial government will only provide 15 hectares of land as counterpart.
He said that funding is ready and once documentation is finished, the proponents wanted the construction to start this May.
Wood said the project, under the state of the art Australian technology, will be the first in Bataan and in the Philippines, which will process wastes to energy.
“It is green energy to replace coal. The technology will solve environmental problems,” the foreign banker said.
He said that for the first phase of the project of 50-MGW, the operation needs 1,500 tons of garbage a day.
If the garbage supply will not be enough, the company will ask farmers to plant Napier grass as fuel for the plant that will provide additional income for the residents, Supnad said.
“It will have a positive effect on the environment for it will produce clean power,” Wood said.
He said there will be no more landfill and there will be close to zero harmful emission and a smokeless fuel.
Edgardo Rivera, CEO of Disruptive Corp. and who will provide the technology and the machinery, said they will strictly comply with the country’s Solid Waste Management Act.
They also thanked Governor Albert Garcia and the vice-governor for the accommodation.
