P1.6-B Iloilo biomass power plant to start operations by next year

The 14-megawatt (MW) biomass co-generation power plant being put up by Central Azucarera de San Antonio (CASA) in Passi City, Iloilo at a cost of P1.6 billion will be operational by the first quarter of 2007.

The power facility will not only service the power requirements of the sugar mill but also help supply electricity to Passi City and the towns of Dueñas and San Enrique in Iloilo.

The co-generation facility will be powered by a 200-metric ton per hour suspension-fired bagasse boiler. It will use sugar cane bagasse, a refuse from sugar milling operations, to fuel the power plant.

While CASA said that about nine MW of the capacity will be used for operations and five MW will be allocated initially for commercial dispatch to local distribution utilities, it also foresees another 12-MW expansion for commercial dispatch in the midterm.

CASA’s co-generation plant is equipped with dual wet scrubbers to ensure compliance with air quality standards prescribed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla, in a statement, hailed the sugar central’s decision to invest in its own co-generation plant fueled from the refuse of its own sugar milling operations.

"This not only increases renewable energy use in the country but also indicates a trend where large electricity users take steps to improve the cost efficiency of their operations and at the same time provide for their own power requirements," Lotilla added.

The country generates substantial fuel potential from biomass resources, such as bagasse or sugarcane residue, fuel wood, rice hull, coconut residue and animal waste, coming from extensive agriculture, livestock and forestry industries.

For instance, the Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Southern Tagalog regions where the traditional sugar centrals are located generate abundant supply of sugarcane bagasse. Research and field trials on biomass-based energy solutions show that integrating the collection and supply of sugarcane for sugar production and cane residue as fuel for energy production is an ideal method of utilizing cheap and widely available fuel resources for bagasse co-generation projects in the Philippines.