DOE considering one-stop shop for biofuels investors

The Department of Energy is considering putting up a one-stop shop that will facilitate the entry of local and foreign investors in the country’s biofuels industry.

This move is expected to encourage investors to put up ethanol production facilities in particular, to serve the growing demands of the local market, said Energy Undersecretary Jose M. Layug Jr.

The country has three accredited bioethanol production plants with a combined annual capacity of 79 million liters. These three, however, serve only a fraction of the estimated annual demand of 400 million liters, Layug said.

According to Layug, a bioethanol plant in Isabela, which was put up by Green Future Innovation, has been completed but is still going through the DOE accreditation process. This facility has a production capacity of 54 million liters.

The DOE also hopes that the issuance of a circular in December last year will help boost investments in the local energy sector.

The circular contained provisions to ensure that all the ethanol produced in the country will be purchased prior to the importation of the much cheaper ethanol.

It likewise appointed the National Biofuels Board to “publish a monthly price index for bioethanol every first day of the month based on data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration and Department of Agriculture to determine the reasonableness of the price of locally produced bioethanol.”

The DOE is drafting a revised biofuel program to increase by 2030 the blend of ethanol in gasoline to 20 percent (E20) from the current 10 percent, and of coco-methyl ester (CME) in diesel products to 10 percent (B10) from the current 2 percent.