President Benigno Aquino III is the special guest of honor at today’s launch of the Sibulan hydropower plant, AboitizPower Corp.’s greenfield project that is seen to make a significant contribution to the Mindanao grid.

Pres. Aquino is joined by AboitizPower’s top executives at Bgy. Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur for the momentous event. He did the ceremonial start sequence of the generator, switching it on to full capacity.

The Sibulan hydroelectric power plant is a 42.5-megawatt facility that consists of two cascading run-of-river hydropower plants that harnesses water coming from the Sibulan and Baroring Rivers to run the plant’s turbines to generate electricity.

AboitizPower’s wholly owned subsidiary Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. runs the Sibulan hydroelectric power plant’s operations.

Its construction started in 2007, after Davao Light and Power Co., also an AboitizPower company, foresaw the increase of power demand in Mindanao.

“The Sibulan Hydropower Project is a vital greenfield project for Southern Mindanao. It will deliver over 200 million kilowatt-hours annually of Cleanergy, AboitizPower’s brand for clean and renewable energy, to Davao Light to augment its power supply to sustain Davao’s impressive growth. This responsible choice by Davao Light has a secondary effect of encouraging more investment in renewable generation capacity on the part of investors like AboitizPower,” said AboitizPower president and CEO Erramon Aboitiz.

The Sibulan hydroelectric power plant’s generated carbon neutral electricity is likewise seen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 95,000 tCO2e. It is the first hydropower facility in the country registered under the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project that will sell certified emission reduction units (CERs) to industrialized countries.

CDM is the first global environmental investment and credit scheme that allows emission-reduction or emission removal projects in developing countries to earn CER credits, which is equivalent to one ton of CO2. The CERs can then be traded and sold, and eventually used by industrialized countries to meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

 “The Sibulan Hydropower Project is our answer to the growing demand to develop energy sources that are clean and renewable.  It is also our contribution to the worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and arrest the worsening effects of global warming,” Aboitiz said.

The construction of the Sibulan hydroelectric power plant has likewise led to the improvement of its host communities. It will contribute an estimated P700 million for sustainable projects such as new and improved farm-to-market roads, local employment, rural electrification, and scholarship programs.

To date, Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. has opened and rehabilitated 49 kilometers of farm-to-market roads in Bgys. Sibulan and Tibolo. These roads provide faster and more efficient means to transport crops and farm produce.

With this, as well as its significant contribution to power generation in Mindanao and its use of a cleaner and renewable energy source, the Sibulan hydroelectric power plant is seen as a good a example of how the country can achieve energy independence and likewise help secure a better future for our children.

“This project supports the Philippine government’s goal of increasing the country’s renewable energy-based capacity and attaining energy self-sufficiency through the development of indigenous sources such as hydro,” Aboitiz said.