EDC awarded for environmental performance at geothermal plants, Southern Negros
Southern Negros geothermal plant, Negros Oriental, Philippines (source: Mike Gonzalez, creative commons BY-SA 3.0)
Alexander Richter
31 Jul 2018
The Philippines' Energy Development Corporation's (EDC) has won an award for its exemplary performance in environmental protection, conservation, and management at its Southern Negros Geothermal Project (SNGP).
As announced last week, geothermal power company Energy Development Corporation’s (EDC) Southern Negros Geothermal Project (SNGP) has won its second Gawad Tugas under the Clean Air and Water category from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-7.
EDC’s award for its exemplary performance in environmental protection, conservation, and management is one among the 14 considered as environmental champions in the region.
EDC won its first Gawad Tugas under the National Greening program category in 2015.
Now on its 4th year, the prestigious Gawad Tugas award is conferred to organizations which have innovated and gone beyond compliance to protect the environment.
The selection was based on four criteria: advancement, support, and innovations of the country’s environmental mandate, vision, goals, and policy statements; dedication and demonstration of good environmental and sustainability practices beyond normal responsibilities and functions; environmental leadership as a role model for others to emulate; and performance on the implementation of programs within the last 12 months.
To date, EDC has already planted over 6.3 million seedlings with the help of its 149 partners from 16 regions all over the country.
More than 2.5 million of these were planted on over 3,000 hectares in Negros Island with the help of EDC’s over 30 BINHI local partners.
In 2016, EDC’s BINHI team has already identified, located, and collected samples of its 96 targeted threatened native tree species and have sought out to propagate them.
To do this, EDC has put up a state-of-the-art automated nursery called a Vegetative Materials Reproduction (VMR) facility in its 222.5MW geothermal project in Valencia, Negros Oriental which makes use of an automated mist irrigation system to give the right amount of mist and mimic the conditions of a natural forest habitat.
“We are deeply honored to be among this year’s recipients of this award,” said Vicente D. Omandam, Jr. Head of EDC’s Reservoir and Project Management Division in Negros Island. “We share this recognition with all our BINHI and 10M in 10 partners who continuously help us fulfill our commitment to green Negros Island.”
EDC is the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal company and the only diversified renewable energy firm in the country.
The company has been powering Negros Island for over 35 years with geothermal energy, the only form of RE that can provide baseload power 24/7.
Source: Philippines Information Agency
