PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will inaugurate today, September 22, the FDC Misamis Power Corp. (FDC Misamis) 405-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
According to the Malacañang Media Accreditation and Relations Office (MARO) during the press briefing Wednesday, Duterte will join FDC officials in the unveiling of the marker and in the ceremonial switch-on and will also give a keynote speech during the program.
MARO said Duterte is expected to tour the power facility, considered to be the biggest so far in Mindanao.
The power plant, said FDC Misamis vice chairman Andrew Gotianun Jr. in a statement, is “in line with the Duterte’s administration’s thrust to promote regional growth most especially in Mindanao.”
The company said the power plant, although it uses coal to generate electricity, employs the latest in clean generation through the circulating fluidized bed boiler (CFB) technology.
“Considered as the cleanest process to burning coal, the technology (CFB) is also known for having higher steam generator thus lowering carbon emissions,” it said.
FDC Misamis is a subsidiary of FDC Utilities, Inc. (FDCUI) and a member of the Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corporation.
Recently, the plant’s first generation unit was synchronized to the Mindanao grid, thereby significantly lessening the island’s power deficiency.
Juan Eugenio Roxas, head of the FDC Misamis, said, “We know how critical the project is to help bring much needed power to the Mindanao grid.”
For his part, Mario Pangilinan, FDCUI president and chief operating officer, said the facility is also expected to help secure investment potentials in the Mindanao area.
“Mindanao needs to grow like the rest of the country like Luzon and Visayas. And one of the things needed for the growth is attraction of investors through more power facilities,” Pangilinan said.
After the inauguration ceremony, the President will then proceed to the Philippine National Police regional headquarters in Camp Vicente Alagar to talk with the PNP-10 personnel and to preside in the command conference with the police officials in Northern Mindanao.
Superintendent Surki Sereñas, PNP-10 spokesperson, said police regional director Chief Supt. Noel Constantino will present to Duterte their accomplishment in line with the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign.