By Alena Mae S. Flores Posted on Jan. 22, 2013 at 12:01am
Supermarket chain owner Lucio Co and a partner will develop a 9-megawatt hydroelectric power plant in Oriental Mindoro province at a cost of about P1.5 billion, industry sources said Monday.
The source said Co would invest in the project through his company Union Energy Corp. The proponents hope to start construction of the project this year and complete it by 2016.
“The hydro project is seen to meet the projected increase in demand in Oriental Mindoro and neighboring areas,” the source said.
Co, owner of the Puregold supermarket chain, marked his foray into the power sector by taking a majority stake in San Jose City I Power Corp., a renewable energy firm that plans to build a 9.9-megawatt biomass plant in Tulat Road, San Jose City, Nueva Ecija. The biomass plant is estimated to cost P1 billion and is expected to be completed next year.
SJC I Power chief operating officer Edgardo Alfonso earlier said Union Energy, owned by Co, took a 66-percent stake in the biomass project while about 21 rice millers in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija owns the remaining 33 percent.
Alfonso said aside from the biomass project, SJC IPower was looking at other renewable energy projects.
SJC IPower’s biomass project is said to be the first of its kind and size that will use 100- percent rice husk.
The project, once operational, will avoid the burning of about 74,000 tons of sub-bituminous coal or the emission of 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide thus contributing in the global effort of mitigating the green house effect of harmful gases in the atmosphere and help in providing the electricity needs of the growing economy.
Alfonso said the rice husk fired-power plant project would highlight the importance of rural biomass utilization to renewable energy supply sustainability and environmental management. source
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