DOE approves waste-to-energy project

Manila Bulletin 
Published: June 27, 2013 
Local developer-led Green Alternative Technology Specialist Inc. (GATSI) is the newest project sponsor that secured the go-signal of the Department of Energy (DOE) for a waste-to-energy facility.
The plant’s design entails the utilization of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in the generation of electricity which will then be wheeled to end-users.
Specifically, the energy department has explained that the facility will be processing municipal solid wastes into pellets; and the resulting RDF can be aligned as a co-firing fuel with or substitute to coal.
Based on the DOE’s roll, the GATSI project is the first RDF-blueprinted facility which was bestowed with a biomass operating contract -- formalized through a signing ceremony last June 13.
Corporate vehicle GATSI, according to the DOE, is a triangular venture among International Solid Waste Management Specialist Inc. (ISWIMS); Mexican cement firm Cemex and Green Siam Resources Corporation, which is a Thai firm joint venture with a local partner.
The waste feedstock supplier will be ISWIMS; while Cemex “will implement the technology required to consume the RDF at its Solid Cement plant in Antipolo, Rizal.”
The facility will be constructed in San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal and seen to be strategically located near one of the country’s major landfills.
There had been no information on the megawatt-capacity target as well as project cost in the energy department’s statement to the media.
It qualified though that the project can avail of the incentives being granted to renewable energy (RE) developers, such as seven-year income tax holiday; special income tax rate of 10-percent; tax exemptions from income generated from carbon credits; zero value added tax; as well as duty-free importation of RE equipment and machinery.
The DOE is hoping that the waste-to-fuel conversion business model of GATSI would eventually become scalable, such that it will not only help shore up power supply but will also bring twin benefits of reducing carbon footprints as well as easing the country’s garbage problems.
“Projects like (these) prove that waste can also be a useful resource after treatment, at the same time, help preserve the environment,” the energy department enthused. (MMV)  source