MANILA — ALTO Power Management Corp. last week hosted the association of mayors from Guam and the Northern Marianas and showed them how inexpensive coal should be the future fuel for lighting the island, a media release stated.
Seventeen public officials from Guam and the Northern Marianas, including several vice mayors, council members and spouses are among the 61-strong group that is being hosted by government officials, hospitals and businesses in Manila.
Guam Sen. Rory Respicio and several businessmen from Guam also joined the group.
The assembly of mayors formalized their association with municipal leaders in the Philippines with the signing of the preamble for the Association of Pacific Island Local Governments and election of officers.
The association has been operating informally for the past two years with Manila Mayor Lito Atienza as its interim president.
ALTO Power Management Corp., which is part of the family-owned Alcantra Group, a conglomerate that has farms, aquaculture and logging interests in the Philippines, as well as a power-generation division, said they always operate as independent power producers and take the largest share of projects.
Joseph C. Nocos, vice president for business development for ALTO Power, said the company sees an opportunity to supply less-expensive power than Guam Power Authority can produce itself.
He said ALTO Power would build at its own cost a coal-fired plant to produce 250 megawatts, which is about Guam’s peak load at this time.
Nocos said this would bring down the cost of power bills on Guam, because coal is 20 percent of the cost of oil. Guam Power’s heavy-oil base-load generators would become “spinning reserves” and backup. Guam’s expensive fast-track diesel generators would be eliminated.
Curious mayors and vice mayors expressed enthusiastic support, but wondered aloud why they were being entertained before senators in the Guam legislature, or Guam Power Authority itself.
Peter R. Sgro, president and chairman of International Group Inc., which is assisting ALTO Power, said they felt comfortable engaging the mayors first because the mayors are close to the people of Guam and would understand and respond to the need to lower household costs for their constituents.
Nocos, who made a PowerPoint presentation during dinner, pointed out that ALTO Power would build on Guam at its own expense — in the range of $350 million.
Sen. Rory J. Respicio, minority leader in the Guam Legislature, who attended the dinner at The Heritage Hotel in Manila, said he has on his desk a bill that would require Guam Power to purchase electricity from the cheapest provider.
Nocos said ALTO Power would eventually begin talks with Guam Power because they would need to hook into the transmission lines; however, Respicio said an unsolicited proposal might be turned away.
He said ALTO Power should respond to a “solicitation of interest” from Guam Power, which could be arranged.
“This is very encouraging for us,” Nocos said.
He said ALTO Power would also welcome a “Swiss challenge,” a term for allowing additional companies to submit alternatives to an initial bid proposal.
He said ALTO power would keep at least 51 percent equity in the project, and would most likely offer 20 percent of shares in the new company to Guam residents.
He said new coal-burning techniques have resulted in clean-air technology that will meet the standards of the Environmental Protection Agency.
ALTO Power operates both coal and oil plants in various countries in Asia.
Other highlights from the third day of the mayors association trip:
• Robert Dean S. Barbers, general manager and chief executive officer of the Philippine Tourism Authority, and other senior tourism officials hosted the mayors’ group with a tour of the Intramuros and Rizal Bagumbayan Light and Sound Museum, and lunch at the Intramuros Golf Course.
• Mayors toured St. Luke’s Hospital and visited some of the 52 Guamanians, who are current patients at the U.S.-accredited hospital. Jose T. “Pedo” Terlaje, mayor of Yona, said he is working on acquiring two small condos for family close to St. Luke’s for stays for his constituents who can’t always afford hotel rooms. He was among mayors who on Monday night were shown condominium properties by Federaland, the land-development division of the Metrobank Group.