Monday, November 26, 2007 Inayawan residents to get jobs in biogas power plant
TO prove that power can be generated from the Inayawan sanitary land-fill’s waste, the Cebu City Government will inaugurate a 100-kilowatt biogas pilot power plant that will reduce garbage and increase revenues for the city.
The project is also seen to provide livelihood to Barangay Inayawan residents and eventually reduce the landfill’s size from 15 hectares to only five hectares.
Depending on the volume, garbage dumped in the landfill may cause its closure in the future, project officers said.
Cebu City Information Officer Nagiel Banacia admitted that the stench from the landfill could affect the marketability of the South Road Properties (SRP) lots at the Inayawan side.
The waste-to-energy project will be implemented in partnership with Philippine Bio-Sciences Co. Inc. (Philbio) and Spanish utility firm Endesa Genercion S.A.
Marketability
“After the pilot plant, we will work on the bigger facility that can reduce the landfill size because we will be treating the wastes. The project will bring livelihood opportunities and other environmental benefits. Air quality will be improved, and we can get rid of the odor,” Philbio Cebu manager Ricky Beltran said.
Because of this, the marketability of the 290-hectare SRP will increase, he said.
By January, Cebu City will bid out the power-generation project’s main component and will be operational by December 2008. The P500-million contract will be undertaken in a build-operate-transfer scheme.
Construction
Beltran said qualified residents of the barangay will be hired for the construction of the facilities, including the machines that will treat organic wastes.
Anaerobic reactor digesters will treat organic wastes, including pathogens, toxins and ammonia, which produces odor.
Methane gas from the landfill is captured by a gas collection system that brings it to a powerhouse with a 100-kilowatt generator set.
Once the bigger facility is operational, the City Government could sell electricity at 20 percent cheaper than the National Power Corporation’s rates.
“The reduced electricity rate and the environmental benefits of the project will be a motivation for locators to settle at the SRP,” Beltran said.
This Wednesday, officials from the city, the Embassy of Spain, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will lead the launching and ceremonial switch-on ceremony at the Sugbu building in Kawit Point at the SRP. (LCR)
