By Teresa Ellera-Dulla
Monday, September 19, 2011
GLOBAL Business Power Corporation (GBPC), which owns the biggest coal-fired power plant in the Visayas is eyeing to invest in biomass power plant in the Negros Occidental.
"It is something that we are talking about. I’m not saying we will. It is something we are talking about,” said Art Aguilar, president of GBPC, when asked about the company’s negotiation with Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. regarding the company’s plans in the province.
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GBPC had confirmed that the company will not push through with its plans to put up a coal-fired power plant in the province.
GBPC owns Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) that operates a 164-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Iloilo and Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC), which operates a 246-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Cebu.
Biomass, which is readily available in various sugar mills in the province, will cost less for the electricity consumers in the province.
He earlier cited "locational problem" in putting up a coal-fired plant in the province, especially on areas, which were earlier identified to be the ideal site for a coal-fired plant. He pointed out that it will be more expensive for an investor to put up a coal-fired plant, partly because of the cost in transporting coal.
Aguilar pointed out that Negros has been the capital of biomass.
“All we need to do here is to modernize the various sugar mills and we will produce electricity from renewable energy sources,” he stressed.
“It is something that Governor Marañon is pushing. There are a quite few investors who are going into bagasse (fibrous matter when sugarcane is crushed to extract juice) biomass. The technology is there. You can buy it in China, Japan and India so that you can produce electricity here. You could be exporting 200 to 250 megawatts of biomass,” Aguilar disclosed.
“The technology is available and the commercial and market conditions are already right. The time to do it is now,” he said.
Aguilar updated the businessmen about the Visayas electric power situation during the 20th Visayas Business Conference and Expo, which ended last Saturday at L’Fisher hotel.
Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 19, 2011.
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