QUEZON City has received an initial payment of P7 million
from the operation of Southeast Asia's first biogas emission project at the
controlled disposal facility in Bgy. Payatas, four months after its inauguration
in late April.
Quezon City mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the amount was
an advance payment made by the Italy-based Pangea Green Energy, which piloted
the biogas emission reduction project at the old Payatas dumpsite through the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to become the first of its kind in the country
and in Southeast Asia.
As a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Philippines will
benefit from the CDM system, which allows industrialized countries to invest in
emission reduction projects in developing countries. The project will help Italy
meet its commitment in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
The Italian firm is set to drill additional 14 wells at the
Payatas dumpsite to intensify methane gas extraction and collection at the old
dumpsite.
Belmonte said the QC Controlled and Disposal Facility Biogas
Emission Reduction Project in Payatas is now generating electricity to light up
the perimeter of the old Payatas dumpsite and streetlights along nearby Visayas
Extension and Pampanga streets.
He said the lighting at the dumpsite, particularly the road
leading to the facility, has considerably lessened crime incidents in the area.
The facility, which sits on a 1,500-sq.m. property at the
dumpsite, has been registered with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) as the country's first Clean Development Mechanism activity.
It is projected to generate up to 42,000 megawatts of
electricity from waste over biogas plant's 10-year operating life.
Belmonte said the amount of greenhouse gas emissions mitigated by the project
is being monitored to determine the corresponding credits.
