Print and broadcast media practitioners from Bataan and Olongapo city had a chance to tour the more or less 300-hectare site of coal-fired power plants– GNPower Mariveles Energy Center (GMEC) and GN Power Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD) in the coastal village of Alas-asin, in Mariveles last Thursday.

The two groups of media practitioners had the time of their lives witnessing the goings-on although not fully well, inside the two operating power plants that supply electricity to Luzon grid and some parts of Visayas.

Arcel Madrid, GNPD AVP for community relations, said amid the latest incidents of power plants shutting down for different reasons, the twin Bataan plants are operating normally. “We hope to avert any shut down. Sana po huwag naman. We are asked by the national government to maintain our operation,” Madrid said in a news briefing just before the tour proper.

Madrid said amid the trend calling for renewable energy, the Mariveles plants still will continue operating with the coal imported from Indonesia. “About 40 percent of our industries, factories and households kuryente pa rin ang ginagamit,” he said.

The tour guide indicated some areas where taking of photos are prohibited for security protocol. Entering the site requires strict compliance with security measures, too. It was the second media tour upon initiative of people from the plants’ community relations group.

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