May 19, 2015
http://goo.gl/JnUXdl
An 8.8-megawatt (MW) facility using GE’s gas engines will use organic waste from sugar cane and molasses from a nearby alcohol distillery to power 22,000 homes in the Philippines, according to Waste Management World.
Aboitiz Power subsidiary’s Aseagas Corporation, which focuses on renewable energy solutions, has inked an agreement with GE’s Distributed Power business to power its first waste to energy project in Lian in the Province of Batangas, Philippines.
Seven of GE’s Jenbacher gas engines will be delivered to Aseagas by October 2015 for the first of three phases of the project, targeting the power plant to go online before year’s end.
The second phase commences early in 2016. DESCO Incorporated - GE’s authorised distributor for Jenbacher gas engines in the Philippines - will be in charge of the installation and maintenance of the units.
The plant will generate by-products of fertiliser and CO2, which GE said can be sold to farmers and beverage companies.
Additionally, the Department of Energy has stated that the Philippines’ supply of biomass resources has the potential to generate a capacity of 4,450 MW, which is equivalent to 40% of the country’s energy needs, if developed.
Juan Alfonso, chief operating officer of Aseagas, said: “I think there’s a huge potential for biomass energy in the Philippines. Our population of about 100 million is bound to generate abundant biomass resources including agricultural crop residues, animal wastes and agro-industrial wastes. The Philippines’ feed-in tariff allocation right now is 250 megawatts for biomass. Other countries like Germany, for example, have thousands of megawatts of biomass. So we’re just scratching the surface.”