Business World Online
Posted on September 27, 2015 06:02:00 PM
THE JOINT venture (JV) between Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) and Roxas Holdings, Inc. (RHI) is investing about $100 million to develop a 40-megawatt (MW) biomass project that will be operational in two years.
Jaime T. Azurin, GBPC executive vice-president, said last week that the two companies will bid out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project by the end of this year.
“We have hired our foreign consultant to finalize the design that will be bid out by December to EPC contractors,” Mr. Azurin said on the sidelines of PowerTrends 2015 in Pasay City.
“It will be operational by September of 2017,” he added.
The official said the project -- which will be located in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental -- costs about $2.5 million per MW.
But he said this will be recovered once the project gets an allocation under the feed-in tariff scheme, which provides a premium rate for renewable energy projects over a 20-year period.
The biomass project will serve as GBPC’s maiden venture into the renewable energy sector.
“We are very careful on this because this is the first big plant that will be built here using bagasse and biomass is not as easy as we think it is,” Mr. Azurin said.
“It’s not homogenous like coal. It changes depends on the kind of bagasse that you use or the sugarcane that you plant so it has to be studied well,” he added.
Last May, GBPC and RHI tapped Finnish firm Poyry Energy, Inc. for the Front-End Engineering Design of a cogeneration facility in Negros Occidental.
“After this final engineering design, then we will all decide it’s a go. Part of the agreement would be the ownership structure,” Mr. Azurin said.
RHI and GBPC in December last year signed a memorandum of agreement for this power project, which will be located within the premises of RHI’s Central Azucarera de la Carlota, Inc.
GBPC -- one of the largest independent power producers in the Visayas -- owns and operates nine power plants in the region with a total installed capacity of 622 MW.
The firm is a joint venture among First Metro Investments Corp., an investment unit of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.; GT Capital Holdings, Inc., Japan’s ORIX Corp. and Meralco PowerGen Corp.
Meanwhile, RHI is an integrated sugar producer. It controls Central Azucarera Don Pedro, Inc. in Nasugbu, Batangas; as well as Central Azucarera de la Carlota, Inc. and Roxol Bioenergy Corp. in La Carlota City. -- Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano source
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