THE Benguet Electric Cooperative recently got the nod of the community to rehabilitate, manage and operate the Baguio City-owned Asin hydro power plant which has remained idle for several years.
In the weekly Talakayan sa Environment Code, Beneco general manager Gerardo Versoza said based on several meetings, the community of Asin in Tuba, Benguet was surprised to learn that they would benefit from the facility’s resumption of operations.
“We had several meetings already with the community of Asin with the last done in our office. They allowed us to conduct a survey to which we are now on that process and ultimately if we will be able to calculate the capacity, possible location of the weir, the power plant, headways, we would be able to present something to them,” Versoza explained.
The Asin Hydropower Plants 1,2 and 3 were built and operated in the 1920s when the Philippines was then under the administration of the United States Government.
“We have shown them the model of the Beneco-Buguias LGU agreement which they liked and were pleasantly surprised on how its operation have benefited the Buguias community,” Versoza said.
Based on the Beneco-Buguias agreement, the Buguias municipal government will eventually co-own the three-megawatt (3,000 kilowatts) Man-asok hydroelectric plant being built at Sebang for P451.143 million.
On top of these additional voluntary benefits provided by Beneco is a royalty fee of P0.2197 per kilowatt-hour paid to the town Buguias as the host community, an item absent in other contracts for hydro generation being implemented in the Cordillera.
Last year, Kaltimex Energy Philippines reiterated the company’s interest to pursue the fulfillment of its operation and management contract with the local government for the privatization of the three Asin mini hydropower plants but to date, have not shown any interest.
Beneco hopes the Buguias LGU agreement would serve as an example for other Cordillera communities like Asin on how to deal with influential power companies harnessing their water resources for renewable energy generation through negotiations for benefits offered by the Benguet Electric Cooperative.