To spur economic growth and respond to climate change

H&WB envisions a total of 500 hectares of sweet sorghum farms on a staggered basis over a 5-year development program in cooperation with the Municipality of Nunungan in Lanao Del Norte and farmer-cooperative of contract growers, all under CPI Energy’s project management.

Up to 25 hectares of sweet sorghum demo farms were established for Year 1 in September 2011 to test and validate the agro-economic performance of five varieties recommended by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Department of Agriculture Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR). The demo farms shall also supply certified seeds to contract growers and serve as venues for hands-on farmer training on sweet sorghum farming technology.

In the next 4 years (Phase 2 - Expansion Phase), the sweet sorghum farms shall be expanded through contract growing as follows: initial 75 hectares of contract grower farms in Year 2; and, expansion of contract grower farms with additional 100 hectares in Year 3; additional 150 hectares in Year 4; and additional 150 hectares in Year 5.

H&WB will operate a network of mini-distilleries which shall procure and process the produce of sweet sorghum contract grower farms. The mini-distilleries shall procure all the sweet sorghum farm produce at the agreed product standards and farm-gate prices of the grain and the stripped canes. The mini-distilleries shall each serve about 125 hectares of sweet sorghum farms. Each mini-distillery shall have a capacity of about 1.0 million liters of bio-ethanol per year. A total of 4 mini-distilleries shall be established to serve the targeted 500 hectares of sweet sorghum farms.

Hydropower development is in association with Kalinga Hydropower, Inc., to reach 130MW, with an initial project of 20MW. The proposed FIT for run-of-river hydro power is Php 6.15/KWh.

Upper Tabuk Hydropower Project
Bgy. Dupag, Tabuk City, Kalinga

Executive Summary
The Upper Tabuk Hydropower Project is a 20MW hydropower facility with storage along the Tanudan River, within the ancestral domain of the Minanga Indigenous Cultural Community (ICC) of Kalinga in Bgy. Dupag, Tabuk City, Kalinga. When the project operates as a daily peaking plant, the annual electricity production is around 59GWh.

The project internal rate of return (IRR) is 15% and the equity IRR is 20%, with potential upside. The total project cost is around US$50 million, translating into an investment per MW of US$2.5 million funded through 35% equity and 65% debt. Revenues are upward of PhP420 million per year with an EBITDA¹ margin of 85%. Operations & Management costs represent 9% of the revenues while taxes/other costs account for 6%.

The project is a community-solicited and has the strong support not only of the host community, but also the local government of Tabuk City, Kalinga (LGU Tabuk). The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) already issued the project’s Certificate of Compliance to the Free-and- Prior Informed Consent Process (FPIC). LGU Tabuk gave its strong endorsement to the Department of Energy (DOE) that the project be implemented.

Although the project involves the construction of a dam, inundation is limited to around 20 hectares of land. No villages, rice fields or culturally important monuments shall be submerged. No streamflow will be diverted or lost. The water to be impounded shall just be below 0.5% of the mean annual runoff of the river’s catchment area. Given that the project shall be generating clean energy and that its over-all impact on the environment is positive, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau already issued the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the project. A conditional water permit was also already by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), and with the submission of the water permit requirements contained in
this report, final approval of the water permit is expected.

The engineering site surveys and studies using NAMRIA and PHIVOLCS maps as references, as well as a review of previous studies of the project site, revealed that the geologic conditions and geotechnical characteristics of the site are favorable for the project’s development. The map provided by PHIVOLCS and previous studies show that the site does not sit directly on an active fault. The nearest known active fault is 1.7 km away from the site, a distance that is well beyond the 5-meter distance PHIVOLCS recommends as a buffer zone from an active fault.

Following are the key components of the project:

1. A roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam that shall allow an operating head of 35.4m;
2. A reservoir of around 20 hectares and a useful storage capacity of around 2 million cubic meters (MCM);
3. A 90m-long and 4.4m-diameter penstock with inlet inside the dam structure that bifurcates into two 3.1m-diameter pipes as it approaches the power house;
4. A powerhouse that will house two (2) units of Kaplan Turbines, each having a rated capacity of 10MW;
5. A 69kV transmission line to a switching station which shall be connected to the TRANSCO 69kV subtransmission line (part of the national grid) and to the KAELCO 10MVA substation in Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga;
6. The switching station that shall have the following functions: (i) allow the Upper Tabuk power plant to supply electricity to both KAELCO and the national grid, and to KAELCO only when generation is low, and (ii) route supply from the grid to KAELCO when the proposed power plant is not generating; and
7. A 2km-long access road and bridge going to the powerhouse.