RODRIGUEZ, Rizal—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated today the country’s first-ever landfill gas-to-energy project in this town formerly known as Montalban.
The President flew here by chopper this afternoon to formally open and commission the Montalban Landfill Methane Recovery and Electricity Generation Project (MLMREGP) at Barangay San Isidro.
The President inspected the facilities and led the ceremonial switch-on to kick-off the formal operation of the waste-to-energy power plant.
Touted as the country’s first clean development mechanism (CDM) project, and the 4th largest in the world, the power plant is being maintained and operated by the MMPC.
Welcoming the President here were Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, United Kingdom Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, chair of the House Committee on Energy; and Rizal Governor Casimiro Ynares III, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo, and MMPC president Peregrino Fernandez Jr.
In his welcome remarks, Salvador Zamora II, MMPC chairman, said the power plant was constructed in 2007 to take advantage of the new carbon credit market created by the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Through this arrangement, countries that are heavy polluters are made to invest in carbon-emission-reducing projects in countries with less pollution by trading certified emission reductions (CERs) or carbon credits. One CER is worth an emission reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide.
Zamora informed the President that the plant is expected to produce 15-22 megawatts of electricity per year using methane gas extracted from the Rodriguez sanitary landfill.
Zamora added that this US$33 million (P1.65 billion) project is a build-own-operate (BOO) project of the MMPC, a predominantly Filipino-owned company, in partnership with UK-based Carbon Capital Markets that specializes in clean development mechanism (CDM) projects and trading carbon credits.
The MMPC is scheduled to set up similar facilities in the landfills in San Pedro, Laguna and in Navotas to provide cheap and environment-friendly electricity to the residents.
“At today’s oil price that is projected to hit up to $150 per barrel, the country will have a foreign exchange savings of US$94 million over the 10-year project life,” the MMPC said.
The gas-to-energy project is also expected to benefit the environment as the flaring component of the project breaks down methane gas, which is a green house gas (GHG) 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Currently, the Rodriguez landfill hosts 1,500 tons of garbage daily. Collected garbage is expected to increase to 2,500 tons per day once the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) starts dumping garbage collected from around the Metropolis.
Source: Gov.ph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment