Self-powered industrial parks eyed in Mindanao — Peza
INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said several areas in Mindanao have already been identified as potential areas to build self-generating industrial parks (SGIPs).
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga recently said these areas include Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Sulu, and Dinagat Island, according to the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), which they are collaborating with towards this goal.
“For an SGIP to be viable, it has to have a minimum of 1-megawatt to 5-megawatt capacity,” Peza Director General Tereso Panga said in a message sent to the Inquirer.
READ: Peza approves 3 new ecozones
He said that an investment of $1 million is the estimated development funding needed per 1 megawatt capacity.
In another statement, Panga said that the establishment of economic zones that are self-sufficient can support the government’s aim to bring cost-effective and sustainable energy solutions to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
Targeting the off-grid islands Mindanao, as well as in Visayas, for the SGIPs, will also complement their mandate to establish more economic zones in rural and in new growth areas, he added.
“An equally important goal of SGIPs is to transform the industrial landscape of the Philippines, and to attract energy-intensive industries such as agro-processing, semiconductor and EV manufacturing,” Panga said.
“These are the most promising, strategic, and high-impact sectors across ASEAN. For this purpose, PEZA and PNOC have teamed up in evaluating the government-initiated SGIP in Tawi-Tawi,” he added.
The Peza chief said that Pertamina, the Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company, is now studying the viability of setting up a liquefied natural gas -powered generation facility to address the energy challenges in Tawi-Tawi.
In October last year, Peza and the PNOC signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the development of SGIPs.
Under the agreement, Peza said it will provide crucial information, conduct studies, and offer logistical support to evaluate the feasibility of developing this type of economic zones.
Peza will also collaborate with PNOC on a range of energy initiatives, including the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftops on government buildings, retail electricity supply projects, and the promotion of clean and renewable energy technologies, among others.
