If these Biothenol will developed how much gain can our country can have?Who are other countries uses these alternative fuel?


:werock: :werock:




Govt promotes biothenol as alternative fuel


Out-going DOE Secretary Vincent Perez Jr. stressed the importance of bioethanol as an alternative transport fuel after the House committee on energy recently approved a bill mandating the use of bioethanol as a blend to gasoline, it was learned Saturday.

"A bioethanol program will not only help cushion the effects of rising fuel prices but more importantly it will improve our environment as it is considered a very clean fuel," Perez said, adding that the proposed measure would help create employment opportunities in the countryside.

Bioethanol fuel is an ethanol fuel produced from biomass, which in turn is produced from any organic matter such as trees, agricultural crops, plant fiber, poultry litter and other animal wastes and industrial wastes.

Perez expressed thanks to the House Committee on Energy led by Rep. Alipio Cirilo Badelles as it recently approved the bill. The bill is a consolidation of House Bills 2583, 2853, 2913, 3159 and 3285 and introduced by Reps. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, Alfredo D. Marañon III, Jacinto V. Paras, Ignacio T. Arroyo and Minico O. Puentevella.

The energy department’s five-point energy independence program includes the increased use of alternative transport fuels. The program, which was launched by President Arroyo last year, aims to bring the country’s energy self-sufficiency level to 60 percent by 2010.

The proposed National Bioethanol Fuel Program seeks a minimum of 5-percent bioethanol blend into all gasoline distributed, sold and used as motor fuel. The minimum blend will be increased to 10 percent by the end of the fourth year from its effectivity.

The measure also proposes to create a National Bioethanol Board to be chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Energy with members from the Departments of Trade and Industry, Finance, Transport and Communications, Science and Technology, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources and the Sugar Regulatory Administration to formulate, implement and monitor the program.

Representatives from the feedstock producers, distillery and petroleum industries and automotive manufacturers will also form part of the board.


excerpted from ABS.

Special fuels like that is almost always more expensive to produce than gasoline and diesel and therefore more expensive to buy.

Actually Singa, the raw materials for these were came from waste of agricultural products so therefore it is much lesser cost than oil.Secondly, the machine for these were developed by our country. Philippines will use it to lower the cost of energy with high in performance, good quality and environment friendly.

hopefully we will race the rate of dollar (could be US,Singapore,Hongkong,Canadian,Taiwan)

:patrioticpinoy: :patrioticpinoy: :patrioticpinoy:

This is a good measure and I hope the lawmakers will approve this bill without any further delay, according to studies, even a 5% bioethanol blend can reduce carbon emissions and pollutants by millions of tons.

:thumb:

First biodiesel plant in
Asia to be built in Cebu


CEBU CITY: The first biodiesel manufacturing plant in Asia will soon rise here after the Filipino-owned Chemrez Inc. announced that it would invest some P2.2 billion to put up the facility that would brighten the future of millions of poor coconut farmers and their families across the country.

Regional Director Antonio Labios of the Department of Energy bared that biodiesel is a growing industry worldwide and many countries are using soya beans, sunflower seeds or palm oil to manufacture biodiesel.

With Asia’s first biodiesel plant to rise here, about five-million coconut farmers nationwide and their families, or about 23 million to 25 million household members, will benefit from the move, according to Labios.

In the Central Visayas, there are nearly 500,000 coconut farmers and farm workers, mostly coming from Bohol with 211, 664 coconut farmers and farm workers followed by Cebu with 164,792. The number of coconut farmers in Negros Oriental total 89,130 and 26,887 for Siquijor, based on the record of the Philippine Coconut Authority.

Labios said Chemrez’s plan to put up the biodiesel plant is timely because Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed a bill mandating the transport sector’s use of biodiesel to help solve the energy crisis in the country.

The proposed Biofuels Act of 2005 provides for the compulsory blending of at least 5 percent and 10 percent ethanol fuel into all gasoline distributed, sold and used as motor fuel in the country. Likewise, the draft proposal mandates the blending of at least 1-percent to 5-percent biodiesel in all gasoline distributed, sold and used as motor fuel.

In February President Arroyo issued Memorandum Circular 55 ordering government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations to use 1 percent coconut methyl ester (CME) by volume mixed with petroleum diesel fuel in all their vehicles.

The use of CME as an additive can save money for the cash-strapped national government and improve compliance with the Clean Air Act.
--PIA

Giant windmills energize northern Philippines

First posted 11:42am (Mla time) Oct 12, 2005
By Cecil Morella
Agence France-Presse


BANGUI -- When enormous windmills began appearing on a desolate stretch of the northern Philippines coast, locals were overjoyed rather than alarmed.
The steel contraptions, standing 23 storeys high, were unlike anything impoverished families from Bangui Bay had ever seen. But they were enthusiastic nevertheless.



The 15 "giant electric fans" were bringing electricity to their homes for the first time.

"It was a joy to watch them being built," said 72 year-old Rosita Ridun, whose family earns less than two dollars a day collecting pebbles on Bangui beach for sale to construction companies.

"My grandchildren described them as giant electric fans."

Standing in an arc in wind-lashed scrubland, the windmills, which started supplying electricity to 40 per cent of Ilocos Norte province in May, are the first source of clean energy introduced in the Phillipines, a nation with 84 million people reliant on oil and gas.

Costing more than 48 million dollars, the windmills, built by a private company with interest-free loans from the Danish government, can harness winds the strength of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the US Gulf Coast last month.

And as crude oil prices spikes above 70 dollars, interest in the windmills is growing. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered a reduction in fuel consumption and an investigation into possible alternative energy sources.

Consequently, government and state-owned power company officials are requesting the head of the Bangui Bay project, a Danish engineer, try and help them replicate these windmills throughout the country.

"Everybody wants to be a wind developer now," said engineer Niels Jacobsen, president and chief executive of the Northwind Power Development Corp.

Jacobsen started work on the 24.75-megawatt project in 1999 after meeting Ilocos Norte provincial governor Ferdinand Marcos Junior, who was intent on fixing the patchy and low-voltage power supply to his region which lies on the northern tip of the country's electricity grid.

Marcos was well aware of the potential of wind because his father and former president, also Ferdinand Marcos, ordered a study into alternative energy in the 1970s amid the first global oil crisis.

The project itself was a logistical and engineering feat.

Each of the three rotor blades and its base, called a nacelle, weighs 104 tonnes with a diameter wider than the wingspan of an Airbus.

Three piers were built to land these structures and the tapered towers of steel measuring 4.2 meters thick (4.6 yards) at their base, which were shipped direct to Bangui Bay from Europe.

Piles were driven 12 meters (13.12 yards) into the leased land to support a 17-meter (18.6-yard) diameter base plate made up of 300 cubic meters (10,593 cubic inches) of concrete on which each tower stands.

A substation and 57 kilometers (35.3 miles) of transmission lines were also built to deliver the electricity to the province's local power cooperative. The cooperative buys this electricity at a discounted rate rather than sourcing more expensive electricity from a state-owned company.

But it's not just the cooperative and locals who have benefited from the windmills. Northwind earned carbon credits from the project--and will sell 1.5 million dollars worth of them over 10 years to the World Bank which manages a carbon credit fund as part of the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gases.

"We only sold a portion because, upon the advice of the World Bank, those carbon credits that we are still entitled to may be sold at a higher price later," said Ferdinand Dumlao, Northwind board chairman and treasurer.

Dumlao said the project cost translated to two million dollars per megawatt of power generated, which is more than double the start-up cost of a normal power plant running on coal, oil, or other conventional fuel.

Without the interest-free loans from the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), the project would have been unviable.

Danida provided 30 million dollars in loans, payable over 10 years, and more than 10 million dollars in grants, with the rest of the project cost coming from shareholders' equity, including loans provided by the windmill and other equipment manufacturers.

"It's not really going to make anyone rich," said governor Marcos, adding that Northwind investors would need between 20 and 25 years to earn money.

"Frankly, if there's money to be made the province would have involved itself."

However Marcos does think the windmills will have other spinoffs, such as perhaps becoming a permanent drawcard for tourists.

"Ilocos Norte is not really the spot where you would expect to see a high-tech operation like the windmill, so the people can hardly believe it. I can barely believe it myself," Marcos said.

"You even have tourists visiting the site which is great. It would make people more conscious about the availability of alternative power sources."

Copyright 2005 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?in...&story_id=53090

BTW, Ive seen this one while i visited one of the beaches in Pagudpud last July.

It's good that the son of the late Pres. Marcos is doing something to enhance the attractiveness of Ilocos Norte.

More photos of Pagudpud.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/4129/fpagudpud.html







BTW, when i visited the place last July, there were clusters of resort hotels built along the beach already. Some hotels have satellite TVs also.

it is time to find alternative sources of energy. these giant windmills sure are a good start. :thumb:

other possible energy sources in the Philippines that should be tapped or continously developed:

- tidal power
- geothermal power
- hydroelectric power
- natural gas
- coco diesel


anything else? :armysmile:

Ah its here already, The giant windmills thread in Europe in already here in the country. China is making much cheaper windmill propeler in the cooperation with the German Government. Much of this windmills is powering the villages and key town in Inner Mongolia.Mas mura at mas malapit sa Ilocos region. The technology is still German concept. And lastly we can achive also an offshore windmill plantation in Ilocos region like the English do in their windwills.more winds more energy.



off shore wind farm

ganda no?

galing-galing ng pinoy!

pioneering talaga!


too bad di ito lalabas sa tv patrol :demon:

The New Energy Trend concept in europe was to use a recycable energy power station such as Solar and Wind Farm. Wind Farm station are mostly installed off shore the English coast. The known establisher in the field of recycable energy is Germany. They already made a great advancement in solar and wind energy harvesting.

I remember similar initiatives were being done in the '70s. I'm just wondering what happned. My father used to bring me to the DOST Inventor's week competitions and saw some of our scientist and inventors' gadgets. Some of their works did not gain honors here but got recognized in other countries. One case is that of Khaos. Developed in the '70s now being revived because the energy problem is creeping back again.

Indeed too bad. It needs other countries recognition before being accepted by us.

Power, water from garbage
By Fred P. Lamguido
The Freeman 10/14/2005

A US company is offering to solve Cebu's waste, power and water problems with a single technology that it plans to introduce for free.

But the Cebu provincial board is not biting just yet.

Finding the offer too good to be true, provincial board member Victor Maambong wants the company investigated.

Global Energy Solutions, through Dan Jose, its director for Asia operations, yesterday titillated the provincial board with a power point presentation on how it can provide a free solution to the growing waste management problem in Cebu while offering to boost power and water supply on the side.

Jose told the Committee on Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources headed by Maambong that GES is willing to build a thermal waste-to-energy converter facility for free provided local governments in Cebu can supply at least 1,200 tons of garbage daily.

For a processing fee of $15 dollars or about P840 per ton of garbage disposed through the facility, Jose said GES will produce 50 megawatts of power and 14,200 gallons of water daily.

Under such a setup, Jose said local governments will be spared the burden of having to spend millions of pesos for waste management programs once they begin to comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act.

This law provides that by February 2006, all open dumpsites in the country will have to be closed down and only sanitary landfills will be allowed to operate.

Jose said that not only are sanitary landfills very expensive to set up, they also require extensive tracts of land to be set aside for the purpose.

To avoid spending millions and setting aside vast tracts of land, Jose said all that local governments need do is sign memorandums of agreement with his company for the setting up of the waste-to-energy converter facility.

Jose said the facility can convert garbage into power using very high temperatures of up to 1,700 degrees centigrade which the garbage itself will fuel. The facility can also produce potable water on the side if needed, he said.

But Maambong said that because the offer was " too good to be true, " there is a need to do further background investigation of the company, especially since it has no operational plant anywhere in the country to date.

Maambong said he fears the offer may just be a scheme to borrow money from financial institutions using local governments as guarantors but Jose assured him GES will neither borrow money nor use any local government as guarantor.

Jose rattled off some corporate names which he claims GES is either a conglomerate member of or a beneficiary of financial guarantees. Jose went so far as to claim prior approval from the World Bank to propose its projects to any takers.

Maambong said if, upon investigation, it is found that GES is legitimate, then his committee may recommend to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia that it do business with the company.

Jose said GES is based in Sarasota, Florida where it was incorporated in 1999 and that the technology it is using is already in use in 20 European and Asian countries.

He explained why GES has no operational plant in the Philippines, saying it was only last April that it was able to get an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Jose said it will be from the processing fees and from the power that will be generated from garbage and sold that the company intends to recover the $77 million needed to build the facility and eventually make money.

Jose said the technology is environment-friendly.

I saw a similar technology developed by Singapore on BBC where sewage is processed into potable water. The company bigwig even drank a glass of their product to prove its safe and completely clean.

This is the opportunity we've been waiting for. :specool:

Let's hope this project will get Cebu's full support.

That company must also try to check Metro Manila's garbage problem.

The feasibility is even better there.

Get the technology from Singapore, not the US. Their might be a deal with US if they build one, bringing US garbage and toxic waste to Philippines. The reason for building it for free.

Singapore's sewage to potable water technology is probably the most advanced in the world. I happened to tour their plant and I can say its very safe and clean! The guide told us that its cheaper to operate than desalination plants. Their only problem is how to convince their citizens to use the water, considering that it came from their bathrooms and toilets.

Singapore is continually developing alternative water sources if in case their water supply from Malaysia is cut off.

I prefer closed-looped recycling, i.e. turning garbage to what it was before. (glass to glass, bottles to bottles, paper to paper, etc...)

Sure energy from garbage is nice, but in the long-run its way better to just recycle the garbage.

RP could emerge major natural gas producer
By LUZI ANN R. JAVIER

New York-based investment bank Morgan Stanley forecast that the Philippines could emerge as a major global supplier of natural gas it is able to fully develop its renewable sources of energy.

In its latest Equity Research report on the Asia Pacific, Morgan Stanley noted that the biggest challenge for the Philippine energy sector was the need to correct the energy imbalance that has forced the country to remain heavily dependent on imported oil.

Citing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Overview, the investment bank noted that the Philippines has about 107 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 399 million metric tones of coal.

Compared to its rich source of indigenous energy, the country only has 24 million cubic meters of crude oil in reserves, according to the APEC report.

"This indicates that, apart from its scarce oil reserves, the Philippines is not fully exploiting its energy resources," Morgan Stanley noted.

It observed that instead of developing indigenous sources of energy, the Philippines imports most of its coal demand, with the share of indigenous coal in total coal consumption reaching only 14.3 percent.

"Similarly, comparing the country’s natural gas use with its abundant reserves shows the underutilization of this domestic oil substitute," the investment bank said.

The bank observed that there has been no significant natural gas production until late 2001, despite the fact that the contribution of renewable energy sources to total energy consumption already rose from 3.0 percent in 1973 to 33 percent by 1996.

"Since then, this share has not increased by any great extent, stagnating after peaking at 40 percent in 2000," Morgan Stanley said, noting that improved deployment of renewable energy "could cater to the energy needs of the country’s low to moderate income groups and rural electrification." (PNA)

Unless the energy mix imbalance is corrected, the bank said, escalating inflation triggered by higher fuel and transport costs, "may hamper economic growth as both consumption and investment are negatively impacted by higher prices and interest rates."

"Over the long term, the Philippines could emerge as a major supplier of natural gas provided that it succeeds in attracting much needed investment in its extraction and distribution industries," Morgan Stanley stated.

It urged Congress to enact "the much awaited renewable energy bill" as it called on the Arroyo administration to prioritize research and development activities to "further promote various renewable energy projects and encourage investment from foreign and local private sector sources." (PNA)


http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2005110648414.html

Is it true that the 2 foreign companies(Chevron?, i do not know the other one) will only drill for gas but not oil? If it is, what is the reason?

Japanese group may invest in RP’s renewable energy sector
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 11/07/2005

A Japanese group has expressed keen interest to invest in the country’s renewable energy sector particularly in wind power generation, the country’s top energy official said.

"We have been talking with a Japanese investor. This is the first time that they will invest in wind power," Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said.

Lotilla said the group, which is apparently forging a partnership with businessman Philip Romualdez will not only be dealing with renewable sources of power but will also be interested in investing in the country’s mining sector. He declined to identify the Japanese group.

But Lotilla admitted that there are still some issues that the government should resolve to encourage more investors to pour in much-needed capital to develop the renewable sources of energy in the country.

Among the major concerns, Lotilla said, include the tariff. "They believe that the power rates where renewable energy sources may be explored are low. They want a fair return," he said.

The energy secretary cited the reference rate in Mindanao of P2.14 per kilowatthour which is below the real cost of generation.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has been encouraging investors to take a look at the wind energy potential of the country.

Early this year, the DOE launched the country’s First Philippine Wind Power Contracting Round, offering promising wind sites for development.

With great wind potential as confirmed in numerous studies, the country aims to become the leading wind energy producer in Southeast Asia.

Two wind power projects are already in the pipeline. The 25MW wind farm by NorthWind Power Development Corp. and the 40MW plant by PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC).

A 118 kilowatt (kW) wind hybrid project located in Batan Island in the northern province of Batanes is already in commercial operation.

In December 2004, the DOE awarded five pre-commercial contracts (PCC) for wind projects.

Three were given to Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems, Inc. for wind projects in Marinduque; Baleno, Masbate; and Tablas, Romblon with a combined 30MW of capacity.

Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. were awarded contract to explore, assess, harness and develop wind potential in Sual, Pangasinan for 30MW of capacity; and San Carlos Wind Power Corp. in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental for another 25MW.

PNOC-Energy Development Corp. will be developing wind potential in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro Oriental.

Under the wind contracting round, a foreign-owned company that is interested to apply for a wind power project contract must form a joint venture or consortium with a Filipino-owned company/companies.

Such that the foreign-owned company will only have a maximum 40 percent participating interest in the consortium.

Other incentives include income tax holiday, reduced duty rates for imported capital equipments and other Board of Investments (BOI) mandated incentives.

Investors can also avail of financial assistance from lending agencies such as the Development Bank of the Philippines (UNDP), United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF) and Philippine Export and Import Bank (PhilEXIM).

State-owned government financial institution Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has identified several financing packages under its Wind Energy Financing Program, RE Project Preparation revolving Fund, Rural Power Project for Type A Beneficiaries, Rural Power Project for Type B Beneficiaries and CDM Initiatives.

The UNDP-GEF, on the other hand, offers assistance in the project preparation and loan guarantee for the project. PhilEXIM, for its part, provides loan guarantees to selected wind power projects


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200511070702.htm

biogas ....


This is possible by harnessing the thousand of tons of garbage.

Biogas derived from rotting garbage and the heat of directly burning trash can turn power turbines.

A report recently stated that a foreign company is now eyeing Cebu's garbage as its first power project here in the country.

lots of farms in the provinces use biogas (chicken poop or pig crap produces combustible methane) to provide electricity for lights...... a few of them occassionally blow up too.....

btw, a friend told me that there are also lots of mini-hydro turbines distributed among far-flung barangays located near rivers.....

I would suggest to the Department of Agriculture that instead of powering their water pumps with desiel or gasoline we can use the Wind Mills to power the irrigation system and extra power station. Like the Netherlands on what they have been doing.

PNRI hinting on nuclear energy for electricity

First posted 09:28pm (Mla time) Nov 08, 2005
By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net



The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) is preparing a position paper pointing to the possibility of reviving the concept of electricity from nuclear energy.
The PNRI hopes to partly address rising concerns about the long-term environmental effects of using carbon-based oil and coal for power plants.

PNRI Director Alumanda dela Rosa said in an interview that the position paper will underline the possibility of using nuclear technology as part of the country’s mix of power sources.

She did not specify when the position paper will be ready, clarifying that they are not lobbying for the immediate use of nuclear technology but to update the Philippine Department of Energy on new breakthroughs on harnessing nuclear power for electricity and other future uses.

Dela Rosa noted that nuclear technology has greatly improved since the disasters in Chernobyl, Russia, and Three-Mile Island in the US. There have been no such incidents in the past two decades.

“There are new and safer methods in producing electricity from nuclear plants and the disposal of nuclear waste. Nuclear technology is just one option that the government could pursue in the future, perhaps in the next 20 to 30 years,” dela Rosa said.

The PNRI, originally the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), was one of the original proponents of the disused Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. In the late 1980’s, PAEC became the PNRI, re-established as a research facility for nuclear applications in agriculture, medicine, and other sciences.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?in...&story_id=55897

I believe we should give it a second look.

Investors in big factories are complaining about huge power consumption cost.

This maybe one of our best option since producing electricity from nuclear power is cheaper than on fossil fuel.

With all those equipments getting obsolete and are still being paid for, duon din pala ang punta. I remember our case lost and it was (mis)handled by Atty Saguisag then.

Well, sayang nga talaga. Imagine, laki sana ng naitulong ng plant na iyon.

Napakamahal ng kuryente natin.

Worse, isa yan sa nirereklamo ng investors. Sobra mahal operating cost dahil sa power.

Nonetheless, may punto din naman ang anti-nuclear plant nuon.

But this time dahil dito .....

... we should consider putting the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant up and running.

more about this technology:

http://www.hyflux.com/tech_main.html

my uncle works at hyflux and i can its the best around, its founder Olivia Lum was even featured on discovery channel :thumb:

CHEVRON is a part of the MALAMPAYA gas field project. Together with SHELL owns 45 %, CHEVRON 45% and the PNOC-EDC 10 % share of the stakes.

What the other company want to get is the share of SHELL in the oil exploration part coz they planning to lease it.

PNOC, is that own by the Philippines and why only 10%, it should be 40%, mahina yata ang negotiator.

US firm eyes Sarangani for fuel production project

ALABEL, Sarangani -- A US-based producer of biofuel using e-grass plant has signified intentions of investing in this province.

In a paper submitted to the Provincial Investment and Promotion Center, the Biomass Investment Group (Big) wanted to put up a processing plant that would extract synthetic gas from the e-grass plant.

"Big will be investing in your community and plans to rent 11,000 hectares of land for an e-grass plantation," the paper stated.

The firm, with corporate headquarters in Florida, offers as much as $400 (around P20,000) per hectare per year for farmers who would be leasing their lands to the project.

Big said it would pay the farmers five years in advance for leased lands.

For the first year and rent alone, the company is expected to shell out over P200 million for plantation development of e-grass target area.

E-grass, largely unknown in the Philippines, grows like bamboo, spreading its roots and producing a number of new shoot, according to the paper.

It requires about 25 inches of water every year to survive, could thrive in brackish water, and uses minimal amount of nutrients from the soil.

Mature stalks grow to an average height of 20 feet and an average diameter of one inch.

At the end of the growing season, plants are harvested similar to sugar cane.

E-grass, which is also a good material for making paper, is considered a high-yield perennial herbaceous crop that could be harvested twice a year.

Fuel could be produced out of e-grass through a process called gasification, a thermo-chemical process in which the solid biomass is converted in a vapor known as synthetic gas.

Big's activities began in 1998, after founding chairman Allen Sharpe concluded that production of large-scale dedicated energy crops and conversion into clean energy is the best large-scale renewable energy option available in the southeastern US.

According to the firm, e-grass could not only produce transportation fuel but also be converted into electricity. (RBS)


http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/gen/2006/...on.project.html

Canadian firm to put up wind power plants in RP

By NIEL V. MUGAS
The Manila Times Reporter

Allied Energy Logistics has firmed up plans to put up at least three wind-based generation plants in the Philippines, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

Mario Marasigan, Energy Utilization Management Bureau director, said the three wind-based power plants would have a combined generating capacity of 100-megawatts.

The company has chosen Ilocos Norte, Cavite and Zambales provinces as sites for its planned power plants, the DOE official said.

"The company has been expressing its desire to put up wind-energy plants here as early as the last quarter of 2005 but it is only now that it has firmed up its plans," he said, adding the Canada-based firm formally proposed its project early this month.

Marasigan said Allied Energy would have to invest about $250 million for the project. This is based on the DOE’s benchmark rate of $2.5 million requirement for every megawatt of wind-based energy generated.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said Allied Energy’s project will help ensure the Philippines’ energy independence and reduce dependence on high-cost fossil fuels for electricity production.

The country is also angling to become Southeast Asia’s leader in wind-energy technology.

Earlier, Northwind Power Development Corp., installed a 25-5 megawatt wind-based plant in Bangui, Ilocos Norte province.

Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. likewise is setting up a 40-megawatt wind power plant in nearby Burgos town to complement the existing facility.

The government plans to offer 16 wind sites with a combined generating capacity of 400 megawatts during the second wind-energy contracting round slated in March this year. Last year, the government offered a dozen sites with a generating capacity of 345 megawatts.

The Philippines has an estimated potential of 7,404 megawatts covering 1, 038 wind sites according to a 2003 study. In Luzon alone, 686 potential sites in 28 provinces have been identified with a total capacity of 4,900 megawatts. Some 305 sites exist in the Visayas with a capacity of 2, 168 megawatts, while 47 sites are known in Mindanao with a potential 336 megawatts in generating capacity.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=30507

Somone heard anything about converting coconut oil to fuel?

Alam ko noong Jap occupation tuba ginamit. Pero carb pa tech noon kaya no idea kung pwede sa fuel injected. Meron rin gamit na mantikang panluto. Sa Amerika may gumagawa na nun. Libre kasi used cooking oil sa kanila.

Well I've heard of that cooking-oil story to. Some also use it here in germany but I've heard that there is a small plant in Luzon turning coconut oil into fuel. And German scientists also found a way how to make kerosene out of the extract/oil of plants found in the Philippines. What about that? We could be the exporter of cheap kerosene for all planes and jets. Some modified kerosene lamps are supposed to be already in use in the RP. We should focus on those kinds of things to for they will surely be very precious in the near future.

It's been here for a long time. And everytime energy problem comes up, it's back. And due to insistent public demand,

PCA to develop coconut oil as fuel

By EDGARD HILARIO

Coconut oil as an alternative fuel to petroleum diesel? Possible.

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), recognizing the country’s position as one of the biggest producers of coconut oil in the world, is now embarking on a project that would make use of coconut oil as alternative fuel to petroleum diesel.

The concept of using vegetable oil as diesel fuel alternative is not totally new, PCA Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras said.

He said that when Dr. Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine in 1900, he used various vegetable fuels to run the engine. However, the introduction of cheap petroleum-based fuel led to the sole use of such fuel for the diesel engine.

Paras added that during World War 2 when there was scarcity in petroluem diesel, the Philippines pioneered the use of coconut oil in place of petroleum diesel. But soon after the war, the use of coconut oil was not pursued due to the influx once again of cheap petroleum-based fuels.

In the 1980s, there was renewed interest in the use of coconut oil as alternative fuel due to the oil crisis experienced worldwide, coupled with skyrocketing prices of fuel. This was also the time when the coconut oil estherification process was introduced.

Positive results gathered showed that Coconut Methyl Esther (CME) has approximately the same properties as that of diesel fuel. CME can be a 100 percent fuel substitute for diesel fuel or blended with petroleum diesel at a minimum of one percent blend.

http://www.mb.com.ph/MTNN2006022457097.html

Projects gone lost even though beneficial to the country as a whole but because of government change.

EDSA I casualty
Gemma C Araneta

AFTER 20 years, we are realizing, albeit grudgingly, that the Marcos administration had points in its favor, like the 1986-1990 self-reliance program of the defunct Ministry of Energy. Had it been completed, instead of shelved by the President Aquino’s government, we would have been spared those ghastly 10-hour blackouts and the expensive power generation contracts approved by her successor. We could have had a measure of relief from "the certainty of future uncertainties…," as erstwhile energy minister, Geronimo Z. Velasco, used to say.

People still remember that during the 1972 oil crisis, the Marcos government was caught flat-footed. The country’s dependence on imported oil was then an alarming 92 percent so gasoline had to be rationed. Energy diversification became imperative so President Ferdinand Marcos signed a decree that converted the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) from an oil procurement agency to one of power generation, encompassing all resources most especially the indigenous. Minister G. Velasco was instructed to forge government-to-government agreements with Middle Easter countries instead of relying solely on commercial suppliers. In early 1985, dependence on imported fossil fuel was brought down to only 50 percent. By that time, there was a glut in the global oil market and the price of liquid fuel was as low as a laughable US a barrel. Nevertheless, a five-year energy program was drawn up to achieve a 60 percent energy self-reliance through the expanded use of alternative and indigenous energy sources. We have to admit that long-range planning was done in those undemocratic decades.

During the Marcos dictatorship, the country’s geothermal steam field capacity reached 65 megawatts, making the Philippines the world’s second biggest producer of geothermal energy, next to the USA. Reports written showed that 8.41 million barrels of fuel oil equivalents were displaced as geothermal energy covered close to 21 percent of national electricity requirements. Other indigenous sources filled in 36 percent. The PNOC had plans for joint venture partnerships for the exploration and development of thirteen geothermal fields (estimated at US$ 900 million) which would have generated approximately 1,700 megawatts by 1996. Coal production, by 1985, was reported at 1.24 million metric tons and hydro-electric power had a generating capacity of 1,943.8 megawatts. There were other non-conventional sources of energy – 16.79 MMBFOE (Million Barrels of Fuel Oil – Equivalent) from biogas and agriwaste, 3.32 MMBFOE of solar energy (used for drying palay, salt, tobacco and fish) plus 4.28 MMBFOE of firewood and charcoal (for commercial use in the service sector). Oil exploration, both off and onshore, was in full-swing and an estimated 2.89 million barrels of oil were produced in 1985 from Nido, Cadlao and Matinloc in Palawan.

Before the fall of Marcos, total oil consumption was estimated at 47.43 MMBFOE a year. Geothermal fuel oil displacement was an estimated 10.50 MMBFOE while total coal consumption figured at approximately 13.11 MMBFOE. Hydroelectric power had a yearly fuel oil displacement of 11.10 MMBFOE; 3.19 was credited to bagasse, agriwaste and biogas and 1.11 for other non-conventional sources of energy. Nuclear energy projection for 1990 was estimated at 620 megawatts that is, a MMBFOE of 5.69. What would all this have cost? At 1985 prices, he Marcos’ five-year energy diversification program would have totaled Php 41.72 billion, with the government shouldering 85 percent and the private sector 15 percent. The foreign exchange component (in pesos at 1985 rates) would have been equivalent to Php 28.65 with the remaining Php 13.07 billion funded from local peso savings. The program also required 15,600 hectares of land for infrastructure, power plants, transmission and substation facilities. (Data culled from heritage PNOC reports)

Because Velasco’s 1986-1990 energy self-reliance program was a casualty of EDSA 1, we went back to square one and will never know how much that regressive move cost the national economy, gemma601@yahoo.com Tune in "Krus na daan", DZRJ 810 AM band. Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. Watch "only Gemma!", RJTV, Mondays, 7 to 8 p.m. Sky 19, Destiny 79, Home 19, Sun 65, UHF 29.

The Manila Bulletin
Thu Feb 23, 2006

Just going back, how many good projects were not pursued and just gone to waste and not continued by succeeding governments because it simply not theirs?

Marcos -
Aquino -
Ramos -
Estrada -
Arroyo (possible projects) -

Saver do you know whom to contact about that coconut-oil thin? I'm really interested in that topic.

Sir Marschall, try the PHILCOA (Philippine Coconut Authority) or the DOST (Dept. of Science and Technology), they have their own websites.

I used to visit the DOST's Inventor's Week and it's really quite interesting.

Thanks a lot. I'll take a look at it.