Some of the funds that will be used by Aboitiz Power Corp to finance the rehabilitation or construction of its hydro projects in the country will come from the selling of Carbon Credits. Aboitiz announced that it had gotten approval for inclusion of its hydro projects in the Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme that will facilitate its entry in the Carbon trading market.
The 2 Aboitiz Power Projects that will use Carbon Credits for funding are:
- Construction of the Sibulan Hydro Power Project in Mindanao, run by Hedcor its hydro electric subsidiary
- SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet, Inc. (SNAPB), rehabilitation of the recently privatized Binga and Ambuklao hydro electric plants. SNAPB is a partnership between the Aboitiz Group of Cebu and Norway’s SN Power. Funds will be used to replace the old turbines.
In related news, Aboitiz’s Tamugan Hydro Project in Davao is facing stiff opposition from the city’s water supplier who wants to also tap the water from the river to supply water to the city. Currently the Davao City Water District (DCWD) is only getting water from underground sources to supply the city.
Hedcor, the Aboitiz Unit in charge of the Tamugan Project, is willing to compromise. They said that it would be better if DCWD tap the cleaner water from the Hydro Electric plant instead to source to the City. DCWD is confident however that it can get Hedcor to stop its project by virtue of it being first in obtaining the permit for their project. DCWD already got approval to tap the water from the river in 1997 while Hedcor is still obtaining its permits
By using the water from the river, DCWD will be able to cut its operating costs and meet the future demand of the city. The only compromise that DCWD is seeing to play nice with Hedcor is if they shouldered their operational expenses and additional building costs that they will incur in rerouting their planned water project because of the presence of a Hydro Electric power plant there.
Update: Just heard from the news this afternoon that the Davao City Council is going to help mediate the dispute between Hedcor and the DCWD. They also said that they view both projects as important to the welfare of the city because it will avert a water shortage crisis as well as an energy crisis. I can’t help but describe the problem as a sibling rivalry between two utility suppliers: water and electricity.
[source]
Category: Hydro, Carbon Credits
