‘All systems go’ for P5-B Davao power plant

A P5-billion waste-to-energy project in Davao City is “ready for groundbreaking,” with the city government having tapped a Japanese private sector partner, according to Sen. Win Gatchalian.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on energy, told reporters the Davao City local government “has for quite a while been working with Nippon Japan” on the planned project.

“It’s all systems go for Davao, they’re ready for a groundbreaking [activity],” he said, adding that the project would hopefully push through within the next 12 months.

Gatchalian said that a P5-billion investment represents a facility that can process 600 metric tons of solid waste daily, including waste management and power generation.

He added that there were many interested parties who want to invest in waste-to-energy projects, and that these stakeholders were awaiting a law that would enable such a market.

Last month, Gatchalian said a law that promotes waste-to-energy projects needed to be enacted considering that Metro Manila “is now in the middle of a garbage crisis.”

Citing data from the National Solid Waste Management Commission, Gatchalian said trash generated in Metro Manila was expected to reach 4.44 metric tons in 2020 and 6.32 tons in 2030 from 3.6 tons in 2014.

He said Senate Bill No. 363 or the proposed Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Act would encourage the development of new technologies in the treatment and disposal of solid waste, and would also support the expansion of bioenergy to attain sustainable energy.

He was referring to technologies that recover energy from trash, usually the conversion of nonrecyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity or fuel through various processes.

“With the passage of the WTE bill, the country will be able to maximize the energy we can produce from waste, be it in the form of electricity, fuel, or gas, and in the process address the waste problem,” Gatchalian said.