LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Aboitiz-owned Hydroelectric Development Corporation (HEDCOR), Inc. plans to plant some nine million areas within its 22 renewable energy plants in the different parts of the country to help improve the state of the environment in the said places and contribute in efforts to sustain the operation of the company’s hydro plants.
HEDCOR president Carlos Aboitiz said that from 2004 to the present, the company planted some 2.7 million assorted tree species in the vicinity of its operating hydro plants as part of its obligation to help improve the environment in their project sites.
He claimed one of the successful gains of the company this year was the commissioning of its newly rehabilitated 19-megawatt Bineng Hydroelectric Power Plant which will produce some 55 gigawatts of renewable energy capable of providing quality lighting to some 19,000 homes within its vicinity.
Further, the company spent some P392 million for its corporate social responsibility projects and for the priority projects identified by the indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples hosting the operation of their renewable energy plants.
He pointed out that the company is inclined to strike a balance between the operation of their hydro power plants and the environment that they work with so that there will be sufficient volume of water that will ensure the sustainable operation of the plants to generate renewable power for the grid.
According to him, Aboitiz remains committed in producing clean renewable energy aside from working for the harmonious co-existence between the power plants and the environment which is the source of water that generates renewable energy.
At present, HEDCOR manages the operation of some 22 hydro power plants in different parts of the country thereby making the company one of the biggest supplier of clean energy to the grids that provide adequate power supply in the franchise areas of the power distribution utilities that get their renewable energy supply from the said company.
HEDCOR uses the run-of-river mode of operation to maximize the potentials of various river systems in their areas of operation to generate clean energy to cater to the increasing power demand of consumers for renewable energy instead of the oil-based power produced by multinational companies that had established large-scale power plants in the different parts of the country.
The renewable energy produced by the different companies operating in the different parts of the country is being used by power distribution companies to blend with the power generated by coal-fired power plants to ensure the sustainable development of renewable energy in potential sites around the archipelago which maximizes the potentials of available renewable sources like hydro, wind, and solar.
The government, through the energy department, is embarking on an aggressive campaign to convince investors to infuse added capital for the development, utilization and exploitation of the country’s rich resources into renewable energy to help in reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuel as its primary source of power to lessen the impact of the same to the state of the environment.
By HENT
