THE proposed rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi Hydropower Plant Complex (APHPC) aimed to ensure the reliability of power supply in Mindanao, is now among the great potential to become a gateway for access to climate financing for the climate-vulnerable Philippines, an environmental group claimed.
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development executive director Gerry Arances even raised concern over the decision to pursue the rehabilitation project once again through a P16.71 billion loan, set to be managed by the Department of Finance, led by Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.
Arances said the rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi Hydropower Plant is among the major projects of the previous administration that will be turned over to the next administration.
Six of the seven hydropower plants are located along the Agus River which flows 36.5 kilometers (km) from Lanao Lake to Iligan Bay. The seventh hydropower plant is the Pulangi 4, located on the Pulangi River in Bukidnon.
Arances divulged that Dominguez even told wealthy economies have not offered enough climate financing to help developing nations reduce their carbon footprints as they transition to clean energy.
An earlier Dominguez statement issued by the finance department said, they have seen very little funding and actions promised by Western countries materialize, all that has been done is talk without concrete action.
Dominguez said they need the Western countries to take responsibility for having contributed and continuing to contribute the most to greenhouse gas emissions.
“They must be given the greater burden of paying for the grants, investments, and subsidies needed for the most climate-vulnerable countries to mitigate the effects of global warming,” Dominguez claimed.
“The Philippine government has been positioning itself as an authority not only in finance but also in climate engagements and endeavors using Agus-Pulangi facilities that have great potential to become a gateway for access to climate financing,” said Arances.
According to Arances, the Philippines is eyeing to borrow an estimated P16.71 billion for the rehabilitation of Agus-Pulangi power plants in Mindanao as it aims to hasten the country’s shift to clean energy resources.
The DOF, according to Arances, is now fine-tuning a proposed arrangement with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) and the National Power Corp. (NPC) on the funding and rollout, and implementation of the rehabilitation projects for the decades-old facilities.
Divided into two projects, the first series which is estimated to cost P10.19 billion will involve the rehabilitation of the Agus IV, V, VI, and VII plants that are expected to generate a total rated capacity of 417.1 megawatts.
While the second series which is pegged to cost P6.52 billion will rehabilitate Agus I, II, and the Pulangi IV plants expected to generate a total rated capacity of 515 MW, NPC Officer in Charge (OIC) Senior Vice President Melchor Ridulme reported.
It was reported that the estimated cost of the projects was based on a study done by the World Bank.
According to Arances Dominguez, the first finance secretary to ever lead a Philippine delegation to a UN climate summit, he has battered on the same line in every speech he has given speeches: developed countries should funnel climate finance to poor, vulnerable nations.
“This loan becomes a terrible precedent for how financing for an energy transition will look like in the country amid a global economic crisis and intensifying climate change,” Arances stressed.
“It also opens concerns on impacts to the affordability of electricity from Agus-Pulangi, and who would be shouldering additional costs from borrowed funds for its rehabilitation.”
