TWO PROVINCES and one city from Mindanao will soon have green, stable electricity from renewable sources with reduced energy costs.
Hydrogen de France (HDF) Energy Philippines Holdings and officials of Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Sur, and Zamboanga City signed the memorandum of cooperation on Friday, on July 19.
The signing greenlights the coordination and technical validation of the HDF grid assessment and feasibility studies for the establishment of Renewstable® power plant projects.
“By implementing cooperation at this stage, we make sure that the two key stakeholders are cooperating with us to find the right location, right area, and right-sizing,” Mathieu Geze, HDF Energy Asia director said during the press conference.
HDF’s Renewstable® plant will deliver non-intermittent renewable, stable, and baseload power by integrating wind and solar. The plant also has substantial on-site energy storage in the form of green hydrogen.
Geze said development would take about two years including pre-development stages such as studies on feasibility, environmental, hydro and geotechnical, land acquisition, and negotiation with electric cooperatives.
Presently, the Renewstable® developed by HDF in Olutanga, Zamboanga Sibugay is already under development. It is a multi-MW hydrogen power plant with a clean baseload power of 10 MW (day and evening) and 3 MW overnight, a storage capacity of 100 MWh, and power generation of 54.2 GWh per year.
A similar power plant is deemed to be replicated in Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Sur, and Zamboanga City.
Atty. Rise Faith R. Encabo, Surigao del Norte provincial administrator, said the project will benefit the province since they have experienced high power rates for the last five years.
“There are a lot of establishments but we cannot provide them the power supply it requires,” Encabo said.
Raul M. Regondola, Zambo-Ecozone DBA chairman, said the project will lower electricity rates and address intermittent power as the city experiences 4-5 times of brownouts daily.
“When it is in operation, it will distribute directly to our 114 locators and manufacturing plants that need electricity,” Regondola added.
He explained Zamboanga is located in the last frontier of Mindanao, so the system voltage shrinks when electricity travels from the source to the city, hence the frequent power interruption.
Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chairperson Sec. Leo Tereso Magno, MinDA Asec. Romeo Montenegro and French Ambassador to the Republic of the PH, Marie Fontanel were also present at the signing.
