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Politician Pacquiao's battle against coal-fired plant
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Coal-fired plants emit twice the CO2 than gas-fired plants
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Boxing's pound-for-pound king and Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao voiced his opposition, in September 2009, against the construction of a 200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant. The proposed initiative is located in his hometown of Sarangani Province, situated in the southern Philippines. Pacquiao, who intends to run as representative in the Philippine Congress during the May 2010 elections, galvanized support from various civil and religious groups to prevent the proposed large-scale project from being built.
The Kamanga Power Plant (KPP) would supply electricity to the Mindanao grid, and is a project championed by Conal Holdings Corporation (CHC). CHC is a joint venture with Thailand company Egko and Mindanao-based Alsons Consolidated Resources. The family of the Sarangani governor holds a significant equity stake in the venture, as reported by Philippine Inquirer.
The project would require an initial capital outlay of $450 million (or nearly 21 billion Philippine pesos), and would be operational by 2012 at the earliest. There are several proposals around the country for building similar power plants. In 2008, Taiwan-based Cogeneration International Corp., a partner of Aboitiz Energy, proposed a similar project in Subic, the site of a former U.S. naval base and converted commercial complex. CHC attempted to pacify opposition by advancing plans for a 10,000 hectare "carbon sink" resorvoir, where harmful greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2) can be re-injected into the ground, where the stored gas would avoid polluting the atmosphere. Coal is the most plentiful fossil fuel, but it is also the dirtiest. Coal-fired generation facilities can emit twice the CO2 than a natural gas-fired power plant. Methane gas, another climate change pollutant, is at least 20 times more powerful than CO2, and is another greenhouse gas (GHG) that numerous industry sectors (such as landfills, mining operations, and manufacturers) are emitting into the atmosphere. These factor into the global warming phenomenon as the sun's heat is unable to escape into outer space. Rather, they are reflected back to the earth. The sulfuric content of hydrocarbon fuels also contributes to acid rain.
Unfortunately, few technical data were provided that laid out the operational specifications for such a "carbon sink" in Sarangani. The advancement of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies is critical for the continued economic advancement of developing countries like India and China without a high negative impact on global environment and climate conditions. However, associated large-scale CCS technologies are in the proving stages and can be very expensive. The Canadian government, for instance, is deploying capital from its C$2 billion fund dedicated solely for CCS, including the capture, transportation, injection, and storage of CO2. Canada's CCS initiative in the Alberta oil sands aims to reduce carbon emissions by one million tons a year. As an added benefit, the carbon will be used for enhanced oil recovery operations. By pumping and injecting it over 2,000 meters below the earth's surface, oil yields increase on surface wells. The carbon would be permanently stored underneath cap rock.
Advancing initiatives such as CCS require numerous operational controls, company guarantees, financial commitment (despite retracted lending and investing practices), coordinated government oversight and protocols, media transparency, and management culture. These would all have to be in place to ensure that a long-term re-injection project would not harm the region's drinking water, environment, and citizen public.
Proposals for coal-fired power plants appear to be sprouting around the Philippines because the political climate enveloping North America, Europe, and international institutions such as the United Nations, is clearly directed at managing and reducing carbon emissions. The referenced C$2 billion Canadian fund aims at reducing four to five million tonnes of emissions per year by 2015. The strategy might be viewed as pre-emptive: "build the long-term dirty plants now, before clean laws are passed, and people and officials won't be able to do anything about it once the massive complex is built."
An Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant would be a better alternative. A reaction between coal and water produces synthesis gas, or syngas, which can then undergo purification. It can emit half the GHG pollutants than a conventional coal-fired power plant. Gasification is a proven technology and is gaining greater implementation around the world.
More information:
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Coal is a quick and cheap way to get "dirty" energy. The initial capital investment for a straight coal-fired plant - without appropriate CCS technologies - is cheaper than say a cleaner natural gas-fired co-generation facility. But it appears they will be more expensive to maintain over the long-run, especially if the Philippines adopts international treaties and environmentally-related protocols that the West is pushing for. The United States Congress is taking action that could make cap-and-trade legislation the impetus for new co-generation benchmark practices; one that hinges on renewable and clean technologies that preserve the global environment, as well as, further enable economic efficiencies to materialize for emerging advances. World energy consumption is expected to increase from 472 quadrillion Btu in 2006 to 552 quadrillion Btu in 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Matthew Simmons, founder of Houston-based energy investment bank Simmons International and widely considered as an authority on the oil sector, believes in the peak oil theory - that oil fields are declining in petroleum output and cannot keep up with mounting global demands. Various data support his view, and many industry experts and policymakers warn of an energy crises if other resources are not fully utilized on a mass scale.
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Renewable altenatives for power such as natural gas, coal bed methane, synthetic gas (gasification) and hydrocarbon cleansing enablers, biomass feedstock (algae to fuel, animal fats, oilseed plants), wind, and solar can be a more expensive proposition on the front end, but the cost curve appears to be declining as technologies, efficiencies, and the compliance landscape evolve. These renewables are sustainable long-term solutions for energy demands. Anticipated improvements and global adoption will make them palatable and practical. Their higher up-front costs will require tremendous financial, long-term, consistent, transparent, and technical commitment from the Philippine government, and from nationally elected officials. There is no room for monkey business. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a trained economist, has been ramping up tax collections on the private sector. But the country remains economically weary from a sustained global recession that is expected to extend beyond the 2010 horizon. Any uncoordinated effort spearheaded by sporadic local governments is likely doomed to failure due to lack of advanced technical know-how, community understanding and support, corruption, and a backlogged court system should company actions fall outside legal parameters.
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