MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/23 Sept) — The commissioning of the 405-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental will help ease the power woes in Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said.
Duterte led the inauguration Thursday of the power plant of the Filinvest Development Corporation of the Gotianun family.
Using circulating fluidized-bed broiler which is touted as the latest in coal technology, the multi-billion power facility is now synchronized to the Mindanao grid to cover 205 municipalities and barangays in the island.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte leads the unveiling of the inaugural marker of the Filinvest Development Corporation Misamis 405-MW coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental on September 22, 2016. KING RODRIGUEZ/PPD
The power plant is a multi-billion peso investment by FDC Misamis that will use the latest in clean coal technology, the circulating fluidized-bed boiler technology.
Duterte said the plant will help stabilize power supply in Mindanao, especially in the Zamboanga Peninsula, which, he notedd, had been asking for help every now and then for a redistribution of the power from the grid.
The President used the occasion to hit back at industrialized countries for telling him to minimize the use of coal in line with efforts to address climate change.
He called the industrialized countries hypocrite for demanding a reduction in the use of dirty fuel after they have exploited causing climate change.
“That is where, I said the hypocrisy and sometimes the stupid inconsistency nitong mga industrial powers lie. They want us to lower [the use of dirty fuel] than what we’ve been using…They want to limit us and we can’t go beyond the ration that we’ve been using,” he said.
“Now if we want to industrialize our country — because we were left behind by so many generations — you have to keep up with developments. And the fuel right now to use is coal. Why? Cheap, it’s available although it is… maybe deleterious to the whole of the climate of planet earth,” he added.
But Duterte also expressed optimism that Mindanao would soon use more of greener and cheaper technologies to generate electricity.
“I never thought that Mindanao will develop so fast, that in the few years, would be starting again… maybe in the fullness of God’s time, we would have something like a solar or a better technology but not expensive,” Duterte said.
The FDC-owned power plant is the second to rise inside the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva.
STEAG State Power Corporation has operated a 210-MW coal plant in the site since 2006. (MindaNews)
