THE commercial operation of the 42.5-megawatt Sibulan hydroelectric power plant has been moved to December, Rene Ronquillo, president of the Hydroelectric Development Corp. (Hedcor), told reporters in an interview.

Originally scheduled to commence commercial operation in September, Ronquillo said they had to move the start of the plant’s commercial operation to December owing to a couple of flooding that hit their area.

“We had a couple of floods which delayed the project, so we expect the commissioning to start in December,” he said.

The Sibulan plant has been called Cleanergy, and will sell its output to Davao Light and Power Co.  (DLPC) as formalized in a power- purchase agreement signed in March 2007.

Hedcor’s Cleanergy will ensure DLPC will have enough power to supply its customers next year, when the energy supply in the Mindanao grid is expected to be at a critical level.

While providing affordable and nonpolluting energy, it will also contribute to the sustainable socioeconomic development of its surrounding communities.               

The Sibulan plant, which will generate power from the Sibulan River, includes the construction of the two power plants, access roads and transmission lines, and is designed to operate for 25 years.

Ronquillo also noted that they have just signed operating contracts for the existing plants.

“Unfortunately, the applications that we had for new projects did not come in  time,” Ronquillo said.  “We are planning to put up nine hydroelectric power plants in the north and south. We are looking at putting up a mini-hydro power plant with power capacities ranging 5-MW, 10 MW, 63 MW and 31 MW.”

Ronquillo added that the plan is to put up between 150 and 160 MW of hydroelectric power capacity. Some of them are still in the preliminary stages, according to Ronquillo, and with the rules today the company has to file right away.

Ronquillo said the plants will be in Benguet, some in Davao, parts of Mindanao and in the Cordillera.  “We have already applied for some of the sites and the others we will still be submitting the applications,” said Ronquillo.

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded RE contracts to Hedcor Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp.; Constellation Energy Corp ; Century Peak Energy Corp.; PNOC-Renewables Corp.; Energy Development Corp. (EDC); First Gen Bukidnon Power Corp.; Luzon Hydro Corp.; Lucky PPH International, Inc.; First Gen Mindanao Hydro Power Corp.; AV Garcia Power Systems Corp.; Benguet Electric Cooperative Inc.; Alternergy Philippine Holdings Corp. and DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute.

These companies were issued RE registration certificates on the day of the contract- signing.

From the effectivity of RA 9513 in January of this year, the total additional power capacity from new RE projects envisioned to be installed within the next five years now runs at 1,636 MW. Some 379 MW will come from the seven contracts issued to six  RE developers in September.

On the biofuels sector, the San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc. was the first to be registered under RA 9513, while Chemrez Technologies Inc., Golden Asian Oil International Inc. and Leyte Agri Corp., were issued full accreditation under the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2008-1 of RA 9367, or the Biofuels Act of 2006.

Under the said JAO, Cavite Biofuels was also granted certificate of registration with notice to proceed with its bioethanol project in Magallanes, Cavite which, will bring the country’s total annual bioethanol capacity to 73.3 million liters once its ethanol-production facility becomes operational.