Danessa
Rivera (The Philippine Star) - November 23, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines —
The BioPower group under AC Energy Inc. is eyeing to secure feed-in tariff
(FIT) rates for all its three biomass plants in Negros Island that are targeted
for commercial operations by the end of the year.
The three biomass
projects worth P16 billion will generate 70 megawatts (MW) of baseload capacity
fueled primarily by sugarcane field residues sourced within the same region.
San Carlos BioPower
(SCBP), one of the three BioPower plants under construction, was able to
reach a generation capacity of 20 MW on Sept. 21. It is the first in the
world to purely run on sugarcane trash.
“The plant has
accomplished its proof of concept from the logistical system of sugarcane trash
collection to the conversion to electricity,” BioPower president Arthur Aguilar
said.
Meanwhile, two more
biomass power plants – namely North Negros BioPower (NNBP) and South Negros
BioPower (SNBP) – will be connecting to the grid within the year.
“The team is pleased to finally have SCBP connect and export power to the grid.
Our goal is to have all three of our plants running by end of this year and
improve the quality of power in the island of Negros,” Aguilar said.
The plants will be
supported by 12 BioPower-owned and – operated transloading stations,
strategically located in the Negros region to annually collect and utilize more
than 610,000 tons of feedstock as fuel.
The biomass projects in
Negros have provided substantial countryside development in host communities,
while also adding income to local farmers.
BioPower’s collection
of cane trash is as important as bagasse feedstock for fuel. It adds value to
diversifying the sugar industry and mitigate the practice of open field
burning, without additional investment from planters.
“We have among the
largest agricultural fleet to have sufficient collection capabilities for fuel
inventory, while also having around 1,500 employees to support our day-to-day
operations,” Aguilar said.
BioPower’s utilization
of cane trash will provide 510 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy on its first year
of operation, estimated to power 160,000 homes and a reduction of 57,680 tons
carbon emissions.
All three BioPower
plants are vying to be eligible in the FIT system for biomass.
The FIT system details
perks for power developers for a period of 20 years to invest in the more
expensive renewable sector. Payment for FIT-eligible projects are shouldered by
all on-grid electricity consumers through a uniform charge called FIT-All.
Unlike solar and wind,
the FIT allocation for biomass and run-of-river technologies remain
undersubscribed three years after the program’s implementation so the
Department of Energy (DOE) extended the deadline to meet the allocation until
end of the year from the original Dec. 31, 2017 deadline.
Biomass was originally
approved a rate of P6.63 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) with an installation target of
250 MW. The FIT rate has already been reduced to P6.5969 per kwh for biomass
effective 2018.
The BioPower group is
spearheaded by Negros Island Biomass Holdings Inc. (NIBH) and funded by global
investment firm ThomasLloyd.
In 2017, Bronzeoak and
NIBH were incorporated into the Ayala Corp. under its power business AC Energy
Inc.
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