‘TIS an exciting time to be in Negros Occidental to those who are advocating for building a Negrense green economy.
Negrenses are no longer debating the usual template of contentious issues: coal-fired plants versus other sources of energy. Nuclear powered plants have never seriously entered the conversation.
Back in 2012, former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco once said in a press briefing in Bacolod that he’s batting for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Negros Occidental to address looming power shortages.
“Nuclear power addresses not only cheap energy, but also global warming and climate change. It is the safest and cleanest energy ever invented by humankind and we ought to use it to serve our people,” he said.
Cojuangco argued that wind and solar power will be too expensive for the Filipino people at P25 to 50 per kilowatt hour. He said that the province is an ideal site for this power plant because it is centrally located in the Visayas region, and could supply power to Cebu and Panay Islands. Now who remembers Cojuangco and his pipe dreams?
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the need for nuclear power plants is like needing a hole in the head.
Eat your heart out, Mark Cojuangco. And the debate is no longer a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
No, our goose will not be cooked in a nuclear disaster. Tanned, maybe.
Negros Occidental is going solar powered.
The latest to jump the solar bandwagon are the owners of San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. in San Cárlos City who recently sold 93.68 percent of the firm to Roxas Pacific Bioenergy Corp., a subsidiary of sugar group Roxas Holdings Inc.
“We sold because we are investing heavily in solar power and other renewable energy ventures since we are basically developers,” said José María T. Zabaleta, former SCBI chair and current president of Bronzeoak Philippines (BP).
BP is a leader in the development and implementation of renewable energy projects in the Philippines. With a background in agribusiness and land development, BP has established its expertise in biofuel, biomass and solar energy technologies.
San Cárlos city is really getting hot with solar power. Here is what San Cárlos Solar Energy Inc. (SaCaSol) said in its website: “San Cárlos City represents an attractive location for a solar farm because it is situated at the right coordinates for maximum solar radiation and, being in the eastern coast of Negros, it is less prone to cloud cover and enjoys more sunshine hours than other places.” It’s not for nothing that the sunrises in the east.
Named Green Company of the Year at the Asia CEO Awards for 2014 and a Solar Power Project of the Year at the Asian Power Awards 2014, SaCaSol has paved the way for solar energy in the Philippines.
The country’s first utility scale solar farm began construction in September of 2013 and currently delivers over 35 million kW hours to the grid. The company can generate 22 megawatts of electricity enough to power the entire San Cárlos City.
Truly, solar power generation is a sunshine industry. With solar power, who needs nuclear or coal-fired plants?
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(bqsanc@yahoo.com)