Union Energy starts P1-B biomass power project

Union Energy Corp., led by Puregold owner Lucio Co, has invested P1 billion in a 9.9-megawatt rice husk biomass power plant in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

In a statement, Union Energy said the project would be the first biomass project to be launched since the issuance of the feed-in-tariff rates in July this year.

The planned facility, which will be using rice husk as feedstock, will be put up by Union Energy and about 20 rice millers in Nueva Ecija through a joint venture called San Jose I Power Corp. (SJC I-Power).

Edgardo A. Alfonso, president of the San Jose City Rice Millers Association and SJC I-Power chief operating officer, said in the statement that the rice millers of San Jose City had decided to form SJC I-Power specifically to put up a power plant using rice husk as fuel. This decision was an offshoot of a 2004 study, entitled Enhancing the Energy Self Sufficiency of Rice Mills in the Philippines.

SJC I-Power noted that the rice husk fired-power plant project also highlighted the “elemental importance of rural biomass utilization to renewable energy supply sustainability and environmental management in the context of global cooperation.”

“Renewable energy developers must continue to play a growing role as we reduce our dependence on foreign oil and coal, confront global climate change and secure clean reliable supplies of energy. Our society will gain more socially, economically, and environmentally from increased access to clean, sustainable renewable energy,” it said.

At the same time, the biomass power plant can help curb carbon dioxide emissions by 40,000 tons. Amy R. Remo