GBPC sets sights on more waste-to-energy projects

MANILA, Philippines – Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), majority owned by Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), is setting its sights on more waste-to-energy projects of at least 55 megawatts (MW) in Bacolod and in Batangas.

MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said GBPC is looking for new renewable energy (RE) opportunities particularly in the Visayas.

“[This is in] respect to our sugar mills, waste-to-energy using bagasse principally, and we’re looking into other ways for energy [like] municipal waste,” he said.

So far, GBPC sees opportunities for two waste-to-energy projects with two sugar mills in Bacolod and one in Batangas.

“The two other mills [in Bacolod] are smaller, maybe around 20 to 25 MW. But the one in Batangas is bigger at around 35 MW,” Pangilinan said.

Currently, the company is working on a 40-MW biomass facility in partnership with sugar miller Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI).

The biomass plant, which will be located in the premises of RHI’s Central Azucarera de la Carlota Inc., is being designed by Finnish consulting and engineering firm Pöyry Energy Inc.

Targeted for completion in the third quarter of 2017, its output is targeted to be under the feed-in tariff (FIT) for biomass, which has an allocation target of 250 MW and a FIT rate of P6.63 per kilowatt hour (kwh).

GBPC earlier announced its target of doubling its existing capacity by 2021. Currently, it has an aggregate capacity of 852 MW from its coal and diesel powered generating plants.

It said bulk of the additional capacity will come from the planned 670 MW coal plant in La Union, its first power plant in Luzon.

GBPC is a leading power supplier in the Visayas which is now controlled by the Pangilinan Group after MPIC acquired a 56 percent stake for P22.06 billion last May as part of the strategic alliance formed with tycoon George Ty’s GT Capital Holdings Inc.