Business Mirror
19 Aug 2014 Written by Ashley Manabat | Correspondent
BACOLOR, Pampanga—While in most parts of the country grass is grown as livestock feeds, here in Pampanga, farmers are sowing grass to fuel a revolutionary move toward renewable energy.
Napier grass, originally grown for forage, is now being developed under the auspices of Mayor Jomar O. Hizon as a fuel source for a power plant.
During a recent meeting with General Electric (GE), Hizon said “it was by coincidence that we met West Stewart [managing director of Advanced Energy Technologies] who told us about how this type of grass that can also be used [as feedlot for a] power plant.”
The mayor said the “super napier grass”—popularly known in Thailand as pakchong—has “higher crude protein than other varieties…that is why we’re interested in it.”
Hizon explained the far-reaching benefits of the project since his family owns Pampanga’s Best, a premier meat processing plant in nearby San Fernando City.
“Everything needed is on-hand. Our processed meat factory needs lower cost of electricity. We have enough land to plant napier grass in my town and this project will be able to augment people’s livelihood,” the mayor said after signing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Stewart and Jocot de Dios, chief executive of GE Philippines, to formalize the building of a power plant that uses super napier grass as fuel for the project with Pampanga’s Best.
For his part, West discussed the process that turns grass into green energy explaining that with the technology, 60 hectares of super napier grass would yield 1 megawatt of power enough to light 10,000 100-watt bulbs for 24 hours.
“The way we are going to do it is to gasify super napier grass using GE’s integrated biomass-gasification solution, which is an upgrade of traditional [gasifier] technology,” West explained.
“We take the crop, cook it at ultra-high heat and process the syngas that comes out. This product is good, pure gas that fuels a GE Jenbacher reciprocating engine, one of the world’s most efficient power generators. Every part of the grass is utilized—it is used as fuel for power,” he added.
“Byproducts include biochar, along with the ash, can be returned to the farmers [which they can use as fertilizer for their farm] land. The electricity generated by the gasifier power plant project will be clean-burning. This, indeed, will be the first of its kind in the country,” West said.
This can be the answer to areas in the Philippines that are experiencing power shortages, he pointed out.
“The Philippines is a very appropriate place for a project such as this, where we have farmers in one community, and a power plant a few kilometers away that can provide up to perhaps 10 MW. They can sell the power locally for power or sell it regionally through the National Grid. This will help solve critical supply problems throughout the island electric grids in areas such as Mindanao,” West explained.
He also said there will be similar projects in Bukidnon and Negros, and they are expecting the Pampanga project to be operational in less than a year’s time.
GE is at the forefront of finding solutions for renewable energy. Today, it is a leading provider of wind turbines, solar power inverters and gas engines for waste to energy projects globally. “With the technology transfer we are formalizing with Mayor Hizon, we have here an ideal situation where the end user is able to grow the feedstock and fuel needed to generate power for their own use in their food-processing facilities. This can be replicated in other areas in the country. We believe that in an island grid such as ours and in a land where feedstock for biomass gasification can grow well, the opportunities will be significant,” said John Alcordo, GE’s regional general manager for distributed power in Southeast Asia.
Alcordo said projects like this will also help fuel the country towards the coming Asean integration in 2015.
“Many times, it is all about the feedstock and sourcing this reliable and at the most cost-effective point,” he explains.
“Having more of these type of projects spread across the region will drive business to develop feedstock with higher yield and lower cost in various sites, giving these power generation projects more options to choose fuel from. This, in turn, will have a positive ripple effect, creating more employment, more investment opportunities while reducing the cost of power in many areas all at the same time,” he said.
Alcordo also talks about the role of GE in promoting clean energy in countries such as the Philippines, and why more local government units and private entities should look into alternative.
“As technology providers, we are able to guide our customers on a number of areas related to these projects—from equipment configuration, operations and maintenance and equipment financing. Tapping into renewable energy has been proven time and again in many circumstances to not only be good for the environment, but beneficial to the business itself from a cost standpoint. It is too significant an opportunity to be ignored,” Alcordo said. source
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