QUICK READ: The VMR nursery in the Kidapawan City geothermal power plant will help EDC’s forest restoration efforts.
Lopez-led geothermal leader Energy Development Company (EDC) has successfully started the establishment of its fourth Vegetative Material Reproduction (VMR) nursery in its 108-megawatt Mindanao geothermal facility located in Kidapawan City. The nursery, which will host the majority of EDC’s priority native species in Mindanao under its flagship environmental program BINHI, is expected to be completed this year.
BINHI is EDC’s forest restoration program and the country’s biggest private sector-led greening initiative that has been bridging forest gaps and bringing back to abundance 96 flagship threatened Philippine native tree species for 11 years now to leave a legacy of a verdant Philippines for future generations.
EDC Corporate Social Responsibility Head for Mt. Apo Myrisssa Lepiten-Tabao said the VMR is a facility constructed for the propagation of these “rescued and secured” premium threatened Philippine tree species. “Since the VMR is a nursery structure wherein the environment needed for propagation of the trees like sunlight, water, and air are controlled, it will greatly help the propagation of Mindanao priority species and will ease the mobilization of the project implementation,” Lepiten-Tabao said.
Of the 96 species that EDC prioritized to rescue and protect under the BINHI program, 73 can also be found in Mindanao, 11 of them being endemic in the island like Pinulog (Ganua obovatifolia) that is endemic to Lanao Del Norte and Matutum, South Cotabato; Malayakal (Shorea seminis) and Kaladis Narig (Vatica elliptica) in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay; and Mindanao Narig (Vatica mindanensis) in Zamboanga.
To recall, EDC recently forged a partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB) for the propagation of 11 most rare and threatened tree species, which include four Mindanao endemic species.
EDC’s first VMR was successfully established in 2012 at its Northern Negros site in Bago City while the second one was put up in its Southern Negros geothermal power plant in Valencia, Negros Oriental in 2018 together with its third VMR located in Antipolo City in Rizal.
EDC was already able to reforest close to 10,000 hectares, 100 hectares of which were in 2019 across its three different sites. Twenty-four hectares were reforested in its Bacon-Manito Geothermal Reservation in Albay/Sorsogon, 70 hectares in Pantabangan-Masiway Hydro Project in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, and six hectares in Mt. Apo Geothermal Reservation in Kidapawan City.
EDC has also planted nearly 50,000 native and fruit tree seedlings in 2019, bringing to 6.44 million its total number of planted seedlings since BINHI started in 2008.
EDC’s over 1,499MW total installed capacity accounts for 20% percent of the country’s total installed RE capacity while its 1,204.67MW geothermal portfolio accounts for 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and has put the Philippines on the map as the third largest geothermal producer in the world.
The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is a pioneer in generating 100% clean, renewable, and reliable power as an electricity supplier in the Philippines for over 40 years. With power plants all over Visayas and Mindanao, the company is one of the biggest producers of geothermal energy in Asia and is expanding its reach in the international market, allowing it to offer customers affordable energy rates. EDC also strives to provide the best customer service it can to all its clients by having helpful salespeople and easy to understand contracts. Because of all of this, it is poised to become the premier supplier of electricity for the Philippines’ Green Energy Option Program. EDC takes its mission as a renewable energy provider seriously and goes beyond sustainability by investing in programs that enhance the environment and empower its partner communities, thereby fostering regenerative development. The company has also been working toward being carbon-neutral by improving its energy efficiency, as well as implementing various greening projects to ensure that its mission to provide future generations with a better life remains intact.
