Philippines: Negros sugar refinery to have biomass plant

Philippines: Negros sugar refinery to have biomass plant

The country's largest sugar refinery is expected to finish the construction
of its 64-megawatt biomass plant this year.

The Biomass Cogeneration Project of the Victorias Milling Company (VMC) in
Victorias City, Negros Occidental will be finished this year. It is designed
to produce power for the refinery and also export to the power grid, VMC
Chief Operating Officer Minnie Chua said Saturday.

The plant will be built in the 200-hectare VMC headquarters and will run
mainly on bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane after being processed to extract
sugar.

In an interview, Chua said the renewable energy plant is expected to run by
October or November.

Chua said around 25 MW of its generated power will be exported to the power
grid, but since the grid is congested, it will have to be upgraded first by
the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

With the new source of power for the company, Chua said sugar could be
milled year round.

"Whole year operations are possible with this cogeneration project but we
also need to do repairs on our milling equipment to ensure that no
breakdowns will happen," she said.

VMC also opened milling operations last September 20 together with the other
two sugar centrals in the province.

Chua assured that their mills are running at maximum capacity, which is
15,000 to 16,000 tons of sugar a day.

"We are doing everything and our best to support our sugar planters who are
also our partners despite the current situation," Chua said.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Link to Original Article:
http://news.mb.com.ph/2017/09/25/negros-sugar-refinery-to-have-biomass-plant
/

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com