British firm to invest $200M in biomass
November 17th, 2008 - Posted in biomass energyBy Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:29:00 11/16/2008
BRITISH FIRM Green Power PLC Corp. has committed to infuse $200 million into five biomass projects that can generate an additional 87.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
David de Montaigne, GGPC founder and chief executive, said each of the five plants would produce 17.5 MW and cost about $40 million to put up.
The biomass projects would most likely be located in areas such as Panay, Samar, Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija, which had a glut of agriculture residues, he said.
“GGPC’s first phase of operations involves an investment in five 17.5-MW biomass power plants that deliver clean baseload, decentralized, cost-competitive electricity, utilizing proven European technology. This can deliver energy security and independence to the Philippines,” he said in a statement.
He added that the planned biomass facilities would not only allow the country to forgo coal and oil imports, but also generate more than 900 direct and indirect jobs in the identified areas for each of the plants.
As for funding for the plants’ construction, he said the company was currently in talks with the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines and a number of other financial institutions.
Among the proposed plants, he said first to rise would be the one in Panay as GGPC was now finalizing a 25-year electricity sales agreement with the electric cooperative in the area.
The start of the plant’s construction, he said, was hinged on the signing of the agreement. Once the deal is signed, construction would take 18-24 months to complete.
He said construction of the Panay biomass facility should start by February.
European firm Areva Bioenergies has been tapped to construct the plants.
GGPC chief financial officer Gordon Thomson said the company’s long-term vision for the Philippines involved an investment of $1 billion in various renewable energy projects, not necessarily just biomass.
