Run of river hydro plants
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Luzon Magat: Ramon, Isabela 360 MW Kalayaan: Kalayann, Laguna 300 MW Angat: Norzagaray, Bulacan 246 MW Casecnan: Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija 140 MW Binga: Itogon, Benguet 100 MW Pantabangan: Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija100 MW Ambuklao: Bokud, Benguet 75 MW Bakun: Alilem, Ilocos Sur 70 MW Mindanao Pulangui IV Maramag, Bukidnon255 MW Agus VI Buru-un, Iligan City200 MW Agus II Saguiaran, Lanao del Norte180 MW Agus IV Baloi, Lanao del Norte158 MW Agus I (Units 1 and 2) Marawi City 80 MW
facilities protect their entire watershed, and have them declared as protected areas, without logging, to ensure the reliable flow of water which only tree cover can provide. The renewable energy developer explained: “We planted 14,000 trees in Antique. We had so many tree planting activities because it was denuded before. We focus on environment and empowering the people, educating them, we finance fruit bearing tree planting, and we have foresters. Upstream we plant hard wood. We give them a livelihood. We give them salaries. We buy the fruit when it’s bearing fruit. We do intercropping.”89 Unfortunately in a number of places such as in Mindanao, negligent government authorities failed to appropriately maintain existing hydro plants, or engage in proper de-silting. The net result: silt just flows down and builds up. One energy expert explained his understanding of why this happened. “This was because Napocor [the National Power Corporation] was undercapitalized – they capitalized it only twice since the beginning. Everything else for operations… cleaning the river… de-silting… Napocor had to borrow, which is expensive. Their debts were so large compared to the equity; they over-borrowed. The whole point of privatization was to pare down the debt, but when they privatized facilities, money didn’t really come in and they couldn’t raise enough funds to rehabilitate the facilities. It got worse and worse in Mindanao. Now they say the fastest solution is to build coal plants. They say they can do it in three years. Why don’t they use the money and clean up the hydro?”90
AgusVBuru-un, Iligan City 55 MW Agus VII Buru-un, Iligan City 54 MW
A representative eight MW run of river hydro plant, located in Antique, has provided around a thousand jobs. A spokesperson for the company (which has 47 mini hydro projects nation wide, seven wind, five solar) explained: “We employ 1,000 people from drivers, laborers, panel building or terracing to protect the slopes – over a period of three years. Now we are 80% complete but our existing labor force is 750. We bring in the top management engineers accountants etc., maximum 15 people, all Philippine and not expats, but the bulk of employment is to the locals. We construct roads. Most of the jobs are in construction, not engineering. Once the project is complete, it’s 30 people in permanent full time jobs. Five to ten people are forest rangers. And livelihoods increase. There are indirect impacts for jobs in the community. You can see when you go there.” Run of river hydro development enriches the Philippines socially, environmentally and economically. It serves as a catalyst for economic activity, especially because run of river hydro facilities are typically located in the hinterlands, in areas without substantial development. An industry leader stated, “When we start developing it helps the host communities. Look just at the roads. In Antique we built 33 km of farm-to-market roads.”88 Beyond providing infrastructure, run of river hydro developers often focus on building communities. The renewable energy developer added: “We go to host communities. We are here not just to do business, but to build a relationship. Our facility will stay 70 years or more. We have hydro that is 100 or 90 years old in the Philippines. Hydro are located in rich winding valleys. When we create roads for hydro we see in-migration not out-migration, along the roads. We create communities. We look into these parameters.” Environmentally, the benefits are clear. Most run of river hydro Jobs renewable energy could bring to the Philippines
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