MANILA, Philippines — The BioPower group under AC Energy Inc. is eyeing to put up more biomass plants across the country in hopes the feed-in tariff (FIT) for the technology would be extended.
The group is looking to expand its biomass capacity by another 200 megawatts (MW), BioPower director and treasurer Don Mario Dia said in an interview.
He said projects being looked at are in different parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
He said the group has written the Department of Energy (DOE) about the FIT perks for the new projects.
He said the group sought for FIT rates for new biomass projects and that they would expand their portfolio.
But in the event that FIT perks would not be extended, BioPower would still continue to invest in putting up more biomass plants.
“We would be acting as market player if they will not expand FIT system,” Dia said.
Currently, the BioPower group has three biomass projects worth P16 billion that will generate 70 MW of baseload capacity fueled primarily by sugarcane field residues sourced within Negros Island.
The group is eyeing to secure FIT rates for all three biomass plants, which were slated to start commercial operations toward the end of last year.
San Carlos BioPower (SCBP), one of the three BioPower plants in development, was able to reach a generation capacity of 20 MW last Sept. 21 and is the first in the world to purely run on sugarcane trash.
Meanwhile, the two other biomass power plants—namely North Negros BioPower (NNBP) and South Negros BioPower (SNBP)—were scheduled to be connected before last year’s close.
The company 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 tonnes of feedstock as fuel.
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.
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 Ayala Corp. under its power business AC Energy Inc.
The Ayala-led unit gained control of NIBH shares and its operating BioPower subsidiaries, thus expanding AC Energy’s renewable energy portfolio to include biomass.
