Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) announced plans to put up more power plants in Davao and the Mt. Province. Particularly in Sita (Davao) and Sabangan (Mt. Province). The Sita plant straddles the border of Bukidnon and Davao.

Not announced was the tentative date of construction as well as whether the government has already given them approval. Given however the severe power shortage in Mindanao where some regions are experiencing 6 hours brownouts per day, I doubt they would have a hard time convincing the local government and the host communities, if their recent experience with the Tamugan power plant were used as a basis.
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After more than a year, the two sides have finally inked a pact that calls for joint development of the Tamugan River as a hydro electric energy source by Hedcor and as a water supply source by DCWD.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed at Marco Polo Davao Hotel on Thursday afternoon and was described as “win-win” solution for both parties. DCWD finally relented to Hedcor as the latter had agreed to the formers request to not divert water from the Talomo river and to locate the hydro electric power plant at a lower elevation than the structures of the Davao City Water District (DCWD). Because of this, the power plant of Hedcor will only be able to generate 15 MW of power now instead of the proposed 27.5 MW and they will have to tap the water 400 meters below the surface water development project of DCWD.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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