Biomass power plant to rise in Mindanao

The renewable energy unit of Eastern Petroleum Corporation will be investing up to $108 million for a two-phased biomass power plant project in Agusan del Norte, Mindanao.

Eastern Petroleum Chairman Fernando L. Martinez said that the first unit will command a capitaloutlay of $60 million for the facility’s designed capacity of 20 megawatts. This is targeted on stream by 2015.

“We intend to double the capacity in another three years … the cost for the second unit will be 20-percent less,” he said, indicating then that the next phase of investment may just amount to $48 million.

Scaling up the facility’s capacity to 40 megawatts, the energy executive said, will require more extensive planning on the fuel sourcing.

For the initial unit, he bared that discussions for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) are ongoing with at least three prospective contractors.

While he did not name the company, he hinted that it is one of the three known turnkey contractors for biomass projects – which would be either American, Indian or European firm.

The facility will be fed with wood chips and other so-called agricultural wastes like coconut husks.

Asked on the sustainability of the biomass plant’s fuel requirements, Martinez noted that the company will have its own industrial farm which will become its key source.

The facility’s off-take on generated capacity will be with the existing distribution utilities in Mindanao, such as the Agusan del Norte electric cooperative.

Any capacity that will not be covered by contracts, Martinez said, will be traded to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) once it is established in Mindanao.

He further pointed out that their choice for biomass as technology option for power generation is anchored on the company’s goal to provide livelihood also to the Filipino farmers.

For more.