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ERC approves Montalban methane-fed plant operation

Friday, 13 February 2009 01:31

The Energy Regulatory Commissionn (ERC) gave the go signal to start commercial operations of Montalban Methane Power Corp.’s (MMPC) renewable energy project in Rodriguez, Rizal.

In a decision, the regulator said that it granted a Certificate of Compliance (COC) to MMPC for its 8.19-megawatt methane-fed power generating facility in the said province.

Under the implementing rules and regulations of the Electric Power Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), no generation company can start commercial operations without securing a COC from the ERC first.

This certificate issued to a generation company covers all of its generating facilities in operation at the time of application. Any expansion, conversion, or empowering of any of the generation company’s facilities or an acquisition of a new generating facility shall require a separate COC for that particular facility.

MMPC’s renewable energy plant sources its fuel from the closed sanitary landfill in Rodriguez town. The P1.5-billion facility was completed for about last year.

Electricity generated by the methane plant will be sold by MMPC to the Manila Electric Co. and to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“This is a much welcome development in the electricity industry. MMPC’s renewable energy generating sets do not just add to Luzon’s generation supply but they also utilize clean and green technology that is environment-friendly,” Zenaida Cruz-Ducut, ERC chairman and chief executive officer, said.

MMPC is a joint venture between Tranzen Group, Inc., a local firm headed by mining mogul Salvador B. Zamora II, which owns 60 percent of the power firm. The rest of MMPC is owned by Carbon Assets Fund of Cayman Island, a majority owned company of United Kingdom-based Carbon Capital Markets.

The primary purpose of MMPC is to engage in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project defined under the Kyoto protocol of the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change.

The accord calls for countries that are heavy polluters to invest in carbon-emission-reducing projects in countries that pollute less.

This is done through the trading of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) or carbon credits, where one CER is equivalent to an emission reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide.

MMPC plans to qualify its methane power plant under this scheme. Once registered, the company’s facility will make it the country’s first, as well as the fourth largest landfill-gas-to-energy CDM project in the world. It is expected to earn at least 500,000 CERs per year.