PILOT SITE | The idyllic Olutanga Island in Zamboanga Sibugay province will host the country’s first hydrogen power plant to be built by Hydrogen de France Energy in the town of Talusan. (Photo from the Facebook page of MANNY PIÑOL)
DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — A French hydrogen power company is piloting the country and Southeast Asia’s first hydrogen power plant in Zamboanga Sibugay province to power the off-grid towns on the Olutanga group of islands.
Estimated to cost P3 billion (or $50 million), the project will rise within the 40-hectare site provided by the provincial government in Talusan, one of the three towns on Olutanga Island, to benefit from the stable electricity supply once the plant will be operational, said Zamboanga Sibugay Gov. Dulce Ann Hofer in a media forum on Friday.
The French company Hydrogen de France (HDF) Energy, the Zamboanga Sibugay provincial government, and the three towns of Olutanga, Mabuhay, and Talusan on the island signed the memorandum of cooperation for the project in Davao City on Friday.
French Ambassador to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz, who witnessed the event, said her government was happy to support a renewable energy project, noting that “protecting the environment is one of our more sustainable goals and so we need to go through a change now into a more sustainable energy source.”
Mathieu Gèze, president of HDF Energy Philippines, said hydrogen would be produced by splitting the water molecule using an electrolyzer, a process that would produce only a minimal amount of waste and would have no negative impact on the local community. The hydrogen harvested through the process will be stored in tanks.
He said HDF Energy would need about four years before the plant can operate: two years to develop the systems and two years to build the facility.
The project will position Olutanga Island not only as a pilot site but also as a green energy island and a premier agrifishery and ecotourism hub in this part of Mindanao and in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area.
Game changer
Hofer considered the choice of Olutanga Island as the project’s pilot site as a game changer for her 22-year-old province.
“We are a relatively new province and the three island municipalities are really suffering from lack of energy. In fact, all our appliances cannot withstand the fluctuations because the [three towns are] very far from the grid. But [once the project is operational], the three towns [on Olutanga] will be the first green island in the country,” she said.
She said they were also looking forward to HDF also setting up a similar facility on the mainland, noting that Zamboanga Sibugay is growing fast and would want to position itself as the first “green province” in the country.
Mindanao Development Authority Secretary Maria Belen Acosta thanked the French company for giving Mindanao their “vote of confidence.”
“By showing up here in Mindanao and arranging these investments for energy, this will open the eyes of the European community that Mindanao is a viable place for development, for business and commerce and tourism. It will spell a lot of difference for the sustainable development of Mindanao,” Acosta said. “Please spread the word that Mindanao is ready for business,” she added.
“It really matters a lot to us,” said Mabuhay Mayor Edreluisa Calonge, as most of the income of the town’s residents were spent on electricity.
“Once our town [has] stable electricity, we can invite investors, we can showcase what’s in our islands [and] it will also give more opportunities to our constituents who currently do not have jobs,” she added.