SN Aboitiz Power Inc, a joint venture between Aboitiz Power Corp. and SN Power Invest announced that the rehabilitation of the 175 MW Ambuklao-Binga hydro electric power plants is ongoing and will cost about $280-million.

The money will be used to recommission the Ambuklao power plant that was damaged in an 1999 earthquake as well as to upgrade the generation capacity of the Binga plant. The expected capacity after this upgrade and repair is 225 MW with a combined annual generation charge of 760 giga-watt-hours.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hedcor’s proposed Hydro Electric power projects found no endorsement from the City Council of Davao as the committee on energy and environment crafted a resolution to deny endorsement of the projects of Hedcor situated in Tamugan, Panigan and Suawan rivers.

Despite ECC’s already being issued by the Dept of Env and Natural Resources(DENR) and approval to proceed given by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), one stumbling block that Hedcor had to face was the Watershed code of the City of Davao that prohibits any development in a designated watershed area. In order to fix that problem the Watershed Code would have to be amended by the Davao City council, which of course as of this posting, is against the said projects.
Read the rest of this entry »

Just recently it was announced that Hedcor, developer of the Tamugan hydro electric power project, had submitted to its main rival, the Davao City Water District (DCWD), a compromise proposal for use of the Tamugan river in order to achieve a “win-win” situation for both parties on the use of the river.

Basically it will mean that Hedcor will only build one hydro electric power plant on the site instead of the planned two and move the plant to a higher elevation. Redesign is expected to be finished in 6 months.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo shared the company’s plans to continue with its permit applications after moves by the Davao City Water District (DCWD) to block its use of the Tamugan for a hydro electric project were denied.

Aside from their approved permit by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), Hedcor already had already acquired their free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of the tribal groups in the project site agreement and their Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Read the rest of this entry »

National Water Resource Board (NWRB) dismissed the protest on Hedcor’s water permit application for the use of the Tamugan River for a hydro electric plant, by the Davao City Water District. Shockingly along with that ruling was the decision of NWRB to declare DCWD’s permit of use on the Tamugan River as null and void.

This is but another chapter in the battle for the use of Tamugan river by the DCWD and Hedcor. DCWD wants to tap the river as a water source to supply the city of Davao while Hedcor wants to build a hydro electric power plant on the river. DCWD had prior approved rights to the river issued by NWRB and used this as one of their arguments for blocking Hedcor’s moves.
Read the rest of this entry »

Went to a local mall in Davao and saw that the Davao City Water District (DCWD) had set up a booth in a local SME event to bring forth their side of their opposition on the use of the Tamugan river for a hydro electric power plant by Hedcor Inc.
Read the rest of this entry »