Texas Quantum will break-ground for $2.6 Billion 10 Plasma Electric Power Plants in the Philippines

Texas-based Quantum International Group Inc. plans to invest more than $2.6 billion on five plasma gasification plants in the country that can produce as much as 13,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, a top company executive said.

Five more plasma gasification plants using industrial waste will be put up, and this can cut the cost of electricity by 25 percent in five years, Quantum International president and chief executive Al Johnson said.

The power firm, which announced projects in Surigao last week, announced yesterday at a press briefing its medium-term plans to produce 13,000 megawatts of electricity daily once five of its plants become operational.

Plasma gasification facilities apply heat to waste to produce combustible gas which in turn is used to fuel electric turbines.

Output is seen to bring down power costs for the country. Furthermore, the use of industrial, commercial and household waste to produce electricity and alternative fuels will also help local government units phase out gradually landfills and improve sanitation.

"I would like to put up 10 plasma plants in the Philippines that you will have so much electricity, you will have to export it. I want five plasma plants in the Philippines this year. Next year, I'd like to do another five," Al Johnson, QI chief executive officer and director of operations, told reporters.

"There will be five contracts done within the next 45 days. [...] From the time the contract is signed, breaking ground will take 45 days. Building a plant will typically take 18 months, while smaller models will only need 12 months," he continued.

For the first five facilities, QI intends to put up four plasma plants in Mindanao and one in Bataan, each with a waste processing capacity of between 2,000-5,000 metric tons (MT) daily.

The projects, Mr. Johnson explained, will be set up near dumpsites to ensure a steady flow of waste materials needed for the plasma gasification chambers.

QI has built plasma gasification plants for Japan and were later taken over by their local power companies.

The benchmark investment for a 1,000-MT plasma gasification facility is between $250-350 million.

He said the benchmark investment will be $250-$300 million for a plasma plant that can gasify 1,000 metric tons (MT) of garbage, $450 million for the 2,000-MT plant and $850 million for a 4,000-MT unit.

The plasma technology gasifies materials like coal and industrial waste at 5,000 to 7,000 degrees Celsius, then converting it to electricity.

For every MT of garbage, Quantum can produce 800 kilowatts up to one MW of electricity.

Johnson said initially, four plasma plants capable of gasifying 2,000 MT of garbage per day will be put up in Davao and Surigao del Norte. A plant with the capacity of gasifying 5,000 MT of garbage per day will be built in Surigao del Norte.

To date, the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids have a peak demand of 7,047 MW, 1,350 MW and 1,256 MW, respectively.

"The only thing that we require is garbage. We need long term contracts with a minimum of 1,000 MT per day," Johnson said.

Quantum is already in talks with local government units for the garbage supply.

Johnson said the company also wants to sell electricity at market prices.

Given the amount of power that will be produced by the firm, Johnson said "in five years, rates in Philippines will drop 25 percent, then two years more, 50 percent."

This will help local industries to be more competitive as the country's electricity cost is the highest in Asia, he said.

Johnson said the ports in Surigao del Norte and Bataan can be used to import garbage for more power production.

The plasma gasification technology was developed by the US military in the 1960s to get rid of unstable emissions and explosives.

"The nice thing about plasma for non-military purposes is we can get rid of hazardous and toxic compounds," Johnson said.

Deadly elements in the industrial world include heavy metals, radioactive wastes, industrial sludge, asbestos and medical waste.

A plasma gasification plant can start commercial operations after 18 months of construction, Johnson said.

To date, Quantum is building a plant in Brunei, Malaysia, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Johnson said the company will fund, own and operate plasma gasification plants while allotting five percent of net revenues to host communities.

Quantum International, which is also into construction, low-cost housing, mining operations, military and police contracts and joint venture commercial project in the US, is backed by five investment trust funds.

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Australia urged Philippines, USA, India, ASEAN & allies to counter China’s 9 rocks claim in WPS

The Philippines must counter China's intrusive actions in the disputed Spratly islands and protect its territory, an Australian expert on political and security issues in Southeast Asia said.

Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and the Australian Defense Force Academy, prodded the Aquino administration and even Vietnam to take steps in enhancing their "national sovereignty" over their exclusive economic zones.

In his paper, titled "Security Cooperation in the South China Sea: An Assessment of Recent Trends," Thayer, a Southeast Asia regional specialist, said Manila's weakness will only invite Beijing "to act more assertively."

He also prodded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the international community, whose ships transit through the South China Sea, to diplomatically confront China over its "aggressive assertiveness."

Thayer went to Manila last year where he spoke during the two-day conference on the South China Sea.

He raised concerns over China's behavior in the disputed territory through "its actions and deliberate encroachments into the islands legally owned by the Philippines under international laws and agreements, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS]."

He noted of the wave of Beijing's intrusions into the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) last year, including the harassments by Chinese patrol boats of Filipino vessels that were conducting seismic surveys in the Reed Bank near Palawan.

Illogical sovereignty claim of China

ANALYZING China's behavior, Thayer said its incursions into the country's territory and even in areas occupied by Vietnam is a way of demonstrating its legal jurisdiction over the South China Sea, which it had falsely claimed through the so-called 9 dash line, 9-dotted line or Ox tongue, whose map it submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in May 2009.

"China's claim is based on the nine rocks it occupies in the Spratly archipelago. In other words, China claims that the rocks are in fact islands in international law and thus attract a 200-nautical-mile EEZ," he said.

"This is a legal fiction. Islands must be able to sustain human habitation on their own and have an economic function. Rocks, which do not meet these criteria, cannot claim EEZ or continental shelf," he added, echoing the belief of marine specialists.

Beijing's 9-dash mark cut into the EEZ of the Philippines and even Vietnam that have been firmly established under UNCLOS.

Still, the oil explorations in the Reed Bank and other areas in the KIG and even in Hanoi's occupied territory were viewed by China as acts of "plundering of resources" and a challenge to its existence.

Soong Enlai, chairman of the board of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), had said his country had been losing about 20 million tons of oil annually or about 40 percent of China's total offshore production owing to such activities in the South China Sea.

Thayer said that in March last year; Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi declared that Beijing's foreign policy would serve the country's economic development.

The pronouncement was immediately followed by a warning against any exploration in waters it claimed in the South China Sea, increased maritime patrols and the recruitment of additional 1,000 personnel for China's marine service that would bring its staff to 10,000.

Superpowers involvement and Assistance to the Philippines and Vietnam

SINCE the South China Sea is not only being used by Southeast Asian countries but also by other countries, including India, the United States and its big allies as a shipping route, these regional powers should assist the Philippines and Vietnam in countering China's aggressiveness, Thayer said.

"It is in the interest of the United States and its allies as well as India to assist both nations [Philippines and Vietnam] in capacity building in maritime security. At the same time, this coalition of like-minded states should back ASEAN in its efforts to secure an agreement on a code of conduct for the South China Sea," Thayer said.

He added that the ASEAN could draw up a "Treaty on Conduct in the South China Sea," which after its ratifications should open it to accession by nonmember-states.

Thayer, however, doubted whether such could work among the members of the ASEAN since there are "nervous nellies" among its members.

Thayer revealed an alarming analysis over China's actions in the Reed Bank when it harassed Filipino vessels that are doing seismic surveys.

"Chinese actions in the Reed Bank area are designed to expose ambiguities in the US-Philippine Mutual Security [Defense] Treaty over whether or not the Kalayaan Island Group is covered by this treaty," he said.

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