VMC sets completion of P2 B biomass power plant in Sept

VICTORIAS CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Listed sugar miller Victorias Milling Co. Inc. (VMC) is set to complete a P2 billion, 40 megawatt (MW) cogeneration biomass power plant by September this year.

“We will be able to export to the grid about 25 MW while the remaining 15 MW will be for our own use. We are also applying this under FIT (feed-in-tariff),” VMC president and COO Eduardo Concepcion said.

The plant, which started construction last year, will run mainly on bagasse, a byproduct of sugar cane.

Once it qualifies under FIT, the power plant will get priority dispatch in the spot market with a fixed price of P6.63 per kilowatt hour for at least 20 years.

“If things go right, we can construct phase 2. Same capacity but the power that will be exported will just be 20 MW since part of the power from phase 2 will electrify the turbines to convert them to use electric power so steam from the sugar mill will be concentrated on the power plant,” Concepcion said.

He said the company is in talks with several firms for a bagasse supply agreement.

“The setup could be somehow difficult since gathering sugar cane trash in the field is challenging. Areas in the facility are not totally planed, it will be difficult during the rainy season especially in bringing in needed equipment. In Negros, the Zabaleta Group is planning a biomass plant,” the VMC chief said.

The  Zabaleta-led Bronzeoak Philippines Inc. earlier said the International Finance Corp. had approved up to $161 million in funding for three biomass plants.

Apart from biomass power projects, VMC is also upgrading its distillery to produce bioethanol alongside potable alcohol.

“Under the law, bioethanol needs to be sourced from local produce so the demand and the price is high compared to potable alcohol that can be imported,” VMC chief manufacturing officer Linley Retirado said.

The upgrade, which will improve the distillery’s current capacity of 30,000 liters to 50,000 liters per day, will likely cost the company about  P50 million to P80 million.  Upon completion, annual production can reach up to 8.3 million liters.

VMC said bulk of the funds earmarked for the upgrade would be used to install a dehydrator to allow the conversion of potable alcohol to bioethanol.