4 power projects named of ‘national significance’
By Lenie Lectura – December 7, 2018
from Business Mirror
THE Department of Energy (DOE) recently issued certificates of Energy Projects of National Significance (EPNS) to four power projects.
These are the 650-megawatt Pagbilao combined cycle gas turbine power plant of Energy World, 15-MW Masbate coal plant of DMCI Power Corp., 1.2-MW biogas power plant project of First Quezon Biogas Corp. and the 6-MW Pangasinan Green Atom Waste to Energy project of Green Atom Renewable Energy Corp. The permits were issued to the power firms last month. Except for the waste-to-energy power project of Green Atom, which is in its pre-development stage, the other three projects are up for commercial operation.
The list of power projects declared by the DOE as Projects of National Significance has already reached 10.
The other six are a 500-MW pumped storage hydropower project of Coheco Badeo Corp.; Coal Operating Contracts 185 and 186 of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp.; the 2×600-MW coal project of Atimonan One Energy Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power-generation arm of Meralco; the 151.2-MW Talim wind power project of Island Wind Energy Corp.; the Kalinga geothermal-power project of Aragorn Power and Energy Corp.; the Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. The issuance of EPNS certificates is stipulated under Executive Order 30, which states that concerned government agencies shall act upon applications for permits not exceeding within a 30-day period. If no decision is made within the specified processing time frame, the application is deemed approved by the concerned agency.
“It is the policy of the State to ensure a continuous, adequate and economic supply of energy. Hence, an efficient and effective administrative process for energy projects of national significance should be developed in order to avoid unnecessary delays in the implementation of the Philippine Energy Plan,” the EO stated.
