Global Business Power, Corp. (GBPC) will be venturing into renewable energy, particularly in the biomass business. “We will be going into biomass,” said Global executive vice president Jaime Azurin. He said Global is now doing a feasibility study to determine the capacity of the biomass power plant, which will li
Global Business Power, Corp. (GBPC) will be venturing into renewable energy, particularly in the biomass business.
“We will be going into biomass,” said Global executive vice president Jaime Azurin.
He said Global is now doing a feasibility study to determine the capacity of the biomass power plant, which will likely be in the range of 40 to 50 megawatts.
“We have hired foreign consultants. A study is already underway,” he said.
The project, to be put up in Negros Occidental, will be in partnership with sugar producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI). Under the plan, Global's power plant will use bagasse from RHI's sugar plants.
A biomass power plant produces energy using plant-based materials.
After this, Azurin said the company is also considering other renewable energy projects.
Last week, GBPC's wholly-owned subsidiary Panay Energy Development Corp. broke ground for its 150-megawatt coal-fired power plant expansion project.
In Mindanao, the company plans to develop a 164-MW plant in Mindanao with Meralco Power Gen, targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Meralco Power Gen is the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country's biggest power distributor.
GBC chairman Francisco Sebastian said the company is spending $350 million for this project.
The project is targeted for completion in July 2016, with construction slated to start in July.
It intends to support the increasing economic activity in the Panay island, as well as the imminent power supply shortfall in the Visayas grid by 2015, the company said.