Waste-to-energy facilities set for Cebu, Pangasinan

The Philippines has strengthened the implementation of Republic Act 9003, or the solid waste management program, but some areas continue to face problems on waste segregation. (File photo courtesy of DENR Central Visayas Facebook Page via PNA)

MANILA — Power consumers from Pangasinan and Cebu are set to benefit from the three waste-to-energy facilities that are worth USD230 million and are expected to begin operations by 2022.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Waste-to-Energy Summit held in Quezon City on Friday, Integrated Green Technology (IGT) president and chief executive officer, Michael Jimenez, said the construction of the plants will start in the first quarter of 2020 and is expected to be completed in two years, depending on the contractors and the weather.

Jimenez said this power source is sustainable since the technology will be provided by the Paris-based CNIM Martin Private Ltd.

, which has a proven track record in building more than 170 waste-to-energy facilities in 23 countries.

For the Cebu plants, the expected volume of trash to be collected is about 480 tons per day, with 50 tons expected to produce about 1 megawatt.

Jimenez, however, noted that the capacity that the facilities will produce would not be fully sold to the power grid.

“For Cebu, at 480 (tons), we can generate about 12 megawatts but the volume we can sell to the grid is only about 8 to 9 megawatts, because we’re going to use it for our own plants,” he said.

The Philippines has strengthened the implementation of Republic Act 9003, or the solid waste management program, but some areas continue to face problems on waste segregation.

Jimenez said this is not an issue with them because they would still mix the trash for processing.

“We’ll follow the law but we do our own thing for how we are going to process it,” he said.

Asked for possible tie-ups with local government units from the National Capital Region (NCR), Jimenez said they were just waiting for feedback before presenting their proposal to local executives of Quezon City, Pasig City, and Manila.

He said the NCR should have about three waste-to-energy facilities to be able to support its requirements.