Renewable Resources May - July 2011 www.philippine-resources.com
New venture targets small rural biomass plants
T
he biomass energy specialist firm Clenergen Philippines is teaming up with PowerSource Philippines in a bid to install up to 30 megawatts of rural “off grid” renewable electricity to Philippine island communities and mining companies over the next three years. Powersource has been granted a 10-15 year exclusive franchise to generate and distribute power in specified rural areas, and is the first Qualified Third Party certified under the Philippine Power Industry Reform Act. The venture hopes to fill a gap wherein the majority of island communities are currently supplied electricity from diesel generators at an average cost of 23 cents per kilowatt hour and in some areas are facing up to 12-hour blackouts. PowerSource says it enjoys strong
financial support from Credit Suisse with US$25 million already invested, the US private equity fund E+Co with $3.35 million in project financing facilities, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation of the United States government. Clenergen and PowerSource project income in excess of $35 million per year from their biomass operations in the Philippines. The partnership will combine Clenergen’s proprietary plant science for the cultivation of energy crops to supply small biomass power plants that will be financed by PowerSource and then distributed through PowerSource’s
transmission network. The partners will share the revenue generated from the cultivation of biomass and from each party’s sale of electricity to both captive end users and the Philippine government. Clenergen Philippines non-executive chairman Miguel Patolot said the partnership “will bring into synergy the extensive experience of off-grid power generation of PowerSource and the cutting edge plant science technology of Clenergen. This partnership will provide infrastructure and equipment financing to support the commercial rollout of energy crop plantations throughout the island communities.” ■
Oil firm eyeing biomass power
T
he oil company Eastern Petroleum plans to expand into the renewable energy sector in the Philippines through acquisition of a biomass power plant. The United Kingdom-based company looking at a 40 megawatt capacity operation in Nueva Ecija. However the plan depends on the Philippine government’s Renewable Energy Board setting the applicable feedin tariff (FiT) rates, according Eastern Petroleum chairman and chief executive Fernando Martinez. “We are exploring renewable energy but we are still studying the entry point and reliability, especially the FiT,” Martinez said. “We are looking at biomass. Biomass has promise. The question is the feedstock. How fast can it grow?” Eastern Petroleum is also considering investment in a coal-fired power plant in Bataan. At this stage the capacity is still under study but the envisaged range is. between 200 and 300 MW. “Eastern Petroleum is thinking of crossing over to the power sector. We are now looking to be a total energy company,” Martinez said. ■ Philippine Resources 27