City invites 'waste-to-energy' proponent
The city government has invited the Philippine Bio Sciences Company Inc, (PhilBIO) to present their proposal over the conversion of city's waste to energy. The company is into bio-gas and wastewater treatment.
Mayor Jerry Treñas said City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) chief Engr. Noel Hechanova has already coordinated with the PhilBIO relative to the date of the company's presentation.
Iloilo City is one of the cities in the Visayas region included in the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the PhilBIO and the Environmental Management Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources to develop Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects for public sector solid waste projects with the use of ReStore Biogas Cogeneration Facility (ReStore).
Treñas said they wanted to give the company a chance to present their proposal on the conversion of waste into energy.
He said all other investors in the power sector are welcome to present their proposals to help address the city's power problem.
The stability of power is the primary concern raised by investors whenever they want to have business in Iloilo City.
So far, PhilBIO is the second firm to offer a proposal relative to power generation. The first is Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC) which plans to put up a 100 megawatt coal-fired power plant.
In their offer, the Phil-Bio said that for every 25 tons of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), there is a potential to generate gas in the ReStore system that would generate up to 750 kilowatts of power. In 2006, the daily generated waste of the city is 665 tons.
PhilBIO likewise wants a share of CDM benefits. Cities that signed a MOA with the PhilBIO will receive advances on future CDM streams from the buyer of carbon credits according to the proposal of PhilBIO through its president Samuel Stewart.
CDM scheme is being supported by the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol has designed a program to reduce emissions through carbon tax. The main purpose of the tax would be to raise the price of carbon-based fuels and generate a global fund to encourage energy efficiency and technological development. The Kyoto Protocol calls for 38 industrialized nations to reduce their emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.