Global Green Power to hasten biomass projects

MANILA, Philippines - Global Green Power Plc Corp. has committed to fasttrack three of its biomass projects with an aggregate capacity of 87.5 megawatts (MW) in response to the government’s plea to speed up delivery of power in the Visayas and Mindanao amid a shortage of power supply.

The projects are being undertaken by subsidiaries Green Power Panay Philippines (two units of 17.5 MW), Green Power Nueva Ecija (17.5 MW) and Green Power Bukidnon (35 MW). Each 17.5 MW project is estimated to cost P2.3 billion.

Global Green, which has the backing of UK investors, made this commitment during the Power Stakeholders' Meeting held in Davao City and Iloilo City last week.

“Energy Secretary Reyes asked for solid commitments from developers to help avert an energy crisis within the Visayas and Mindanao,” Global Green president David de Montaigne said.

“The projects are going full speed ahead,” added Global Green CEO Stephen Waterfield, pointing out that the company has bid out the engineering, procurement and construction contracts to contractors.

“We are in the process of awarding our equipment and EPC contracts for our first three projects before the end of this March, and our first Panay project is already under construction” Waterfield said. 

Global Green CFO Gordon Thomson, for his part, said the direct assistance of the DOE in helping renewable energy developers, combined with the benefits of the Renewable Energy Act “have enabled our company to move forward very quickly to deliver decentralized power plants to the areas that need them most.”

Global Green is already constructing the 17.5-MW biomass project in Mina, Iloilo. The company is speeding up the development of its second 17.5-MW biomass power plant in the same site.