Dendrothermal dream threatened in the Philippines: plantation yields and budgets are slowing progress

The components were there - educated personnel with managerial skills, large areas of underutilized land, excellent climate for tree growth, low-cost labor. The incentive was there - escalating oil prices in the 1970s. Thus, in 1979, the Philippine Dendrothermal Power Program got under way. Planners envisioned 60 to 70 wood-fired electric power plants with a total generating capacity of 200 megawatts (Denton 1983). The power plants - fueled by wood from fast-growing tree plantations-promised employment and income for tree farmers, stable electric rates for consumers, reduced oil imports, rural-to-urban migration, and additional hectares of reforested land. This paper discusses the status of the program.