3rd biomass plant to rise in Negros Occidental

The project, situated on a 300,000-square meter area, is also expected to create 675 new jobs at the power plant aside from the 2,500 in the agriculture sector. (Photo By Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee) (English Wikipedia) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Mayor Lourdes Escalante joined Michael Sieg, chairman of Thomas Lloyd Group; and Juan Xavier Zabaleta, chairman of North Negros Biopower Inc., in the groundbreaking rites Wednesday for the 25-megawatt power plant project in Hacienda Bariw, Barangay Santa Teresa.

Developed through local firm North Negros BioPower Inc., The project is part of a package of three sister plants in the province, including the 25-MW South Negros BioPower in La Carlota City and 20-MW San Carlos BioPower in San Carlos City.

In a statement, the North Negros Biopower Inc. said its latest biomass project in the province is expected to be completed in 2018.

Once operational, it will generate 185 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in a year using biofuels such as sugarcane trash and woody energy plants and will supply electricity to some 265,000 people.

The project, situated on a 300,000-square meter area, is also expected to create 675 new jobs at the power plant aside from the 2,500 in the agriculture sector.

The first two plants are nearing completion and scheduled to operate next year.

Major investor ThomasLloyd is a leading global investment banking and investment management group, solely dedicated to the renewable energy sector in Asia.