Mirant Philippines Corporation,
Address: 2232 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City,
Tel: +63-2 552-8000
Ownership: Mirant Philippines is 100% owned by Mirant
CLIMATE KILLER AWARD
The Climate Killer Award is given to the single biggest
emitter of carbon dioxide in the country.
Type of Incident and Location of Damage
On December 18, 2005, the NAPOCOR Power Barge 106 ran aground
200 meters off Sitio Bobog, Semirara Island, Antique resulting in
the largest oil spill in Philippine history. The size of the spill
was estimated to over 300,000 liters of bunker fuel.
Mirant owned power plants:
Carmen, Cebu 19 MW (bunker)
Ilijan, Batangas 240 MW (gas)
Iloilo, Panay 35 MW (diesel)
Iloilo, Panay 20 MW (diesel)
Nabas, Aklan 12.5 MW (diesel)
New Washington, Aklan 5 MW (diesel)
Pagbilao, Quezon 704 MW (coal)
Pinamalayan, Mindoro 3 MW (Heavy fuel oil)
Sangi, Cebu 38 MW (Coal)
Sual, Pangasinan 1,155 MW (coal)
Type of Damage
The power plants of Mirant Philippines have a total generation
capacity of 2,231.5 MW. Coal, the most carbon intensive among
fossil fuel, accounts for more than eighty percent of the company's
installed capacity. Among fossil fuels, coal is the dirtiest,
emitting 29 percent more carbon per unit of energy than oil and 80
percent more than gas.
Climate change, the most serious environmental threat
facing the planet today, is attributed to human activities, mainly
the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, which releases massive
amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Running at full capacity, Mirant's power plants can emit
up to 17.5 million tons of CO2 annually. If all these power plants
were allowed to operate for the next 25 years, Mirant will be
contributing up to 438.5 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.1
In a 25 year lifetime of CO2 emissions from Mirant's 1200-MW Sual
coal plant alone are equivalent to more than 570 billion jeepneys
simultaneously starting and traveling for a kilometer.
So long as the emission of greenhouse gases,
particularly carbon dioxide, remain unabated, impacts from climate
change will continue to intensify, hitting developing countries
such as the Philippines with particular ferocity through the
increase in frequency of extreme weather events such as drought and
storms, the heightened risk of recurring massive coral bleaching as
well as rising sea levels.
Subsequent Behaviour of Company
Despite this, Mirant plans to expand its coal operations in the
Philippines by a total of 650-MW over the next six years. This will
produce a total of 6,149,520 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually
or a total 153,738,000 metric tons of CO2 for the duration of a
typical 25-year coal plant contract lifetime.
Mirant's expansion plans will add to the country an
equivalent of another 370 billion jeepneys' emissions.
Clean, renewable energy is more than abundant in the
Philippines. Power from the sun is available almost
anywhere in the country. Solar panels installed on a site just half
the land area of Quezon City, for instance, could supply the energy
needs of the entire country for a day. The potential wind power in
the Philippines stands at 70,000-MW representing clean power
several times over the country's present energy demand. Moreover,
the total potential of modern biomass power today stands at
The country does not have to be held hostage to Mirant's
polluting intentions. It's time the Philippines makes the switch.
The European Renewable Energy Council has shown that with the right
support policies from government, renewable energy from wind,
geothermal, small hydro, modern biomass and solar power can provide
50 percent of global energy supply by 2040.
Traditional energy economists say that renewable energy is
too expensive and that we can't afford to develop it.
The truth is we cannot afford not to.
2) Computed based on carbon dioxide emission factor of coal, oil and gas, http://www.seen.org/pages/db/method.shtml