news/updates
Spanish firm plans $250-M biofuel dev't
BusinessWorld
December 11, 2007
ANOTHER SPAIN-BASED energy company is studying plans to invest as much as $250 million to develop some 50,000 hectares of land planted to cassava as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement yesterday.
The statement quoted Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap as announcing in the management committee meeting at the Agriculture department head office yesterday that Abengoa Bioenergy, which operates bioethanol facilities not only Europe but also in Brazil and the United States, expects feedstock production from its planned distillery here to reach from 1 million tons-1.2 million tons, generating about 150 million liters-200 million liters of bioethanol annually.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) which is valid for one year, Abengoa Bioenergy will help the Agriculture department in identifying varieties of cassava for cultivation trials and share its technical knowledge. The agreement was signed by Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat and Abengoa Chairman Javier Salgado Leirado during the state visit of Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo to Spain last Dec. 2-5.
During the meeting at the Agriculture department, Ms. Puyat said Abengoa will particularly provide engineering design and supply the machinery required for the development of cassava plantations and study the possibility of establishing bioethanol production plants in the Philippines.
Through the Abengoa-PADCC Working Committee, the PADCC will be tasked to assist the Spanish company in conducting capability enhancement training for farmers, particularly in the area of enterprise management, she said.
Ms. Puyat said that Abengoa will also lend its technical expertise in the agricultural production side with the end view of developing high-yielding varieties and increased feedstock productivity.
"The Department recognizes the success of Abengoa in developing itself as the largest ethanol producer in Europe and the fifth in the United States," the statement quoted Mr. Yap as saying.
Mr. Yap said that Abengoa and PADCC, along with the Agriculture department Biofuel Feed-stock Development Program, can enter into partnerships focusing on energy crops development and cost-competitive biomass technology.
"We hope that Abengoa will immediately move forward its initial understanding with PADCC into concrete timelines to cover the early completion of the feasibility study and the immediate implementation of the project, preferably within 2008," Mr. Yap said.
Other firms
Earlier, Mr. Yap said Bilbao-based biodiesel producer Bionor Transformacion S.A. also had plans to invest $200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations to be used as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the country. Mr. Yap said Bionor bared its plans to invest in the Philippines ' biofuel sector following the signing last Dec. 3 of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) at the Palacio Real el Pardo between him and Alfonso Ausin, the president and CEO of the Spanish company.
A MoA was also signed between AME Bioenergy and the PADCC in the presence of President Arroyo during her recent visit to Spain. Under that agreement, AME will identify suitable jatropha plantation sites, consolidate lands, organize and train farm labor, use appropriate cultivation and agronomic practices, organize local support to install plantation infrastructure, and study the cost structure for production to determine and recommend to Bionor whether its planned jatropha development project would be economically viable and internationally competitive.
Mr. Yap said that Bionor's main thrust is to develop feed-stock plantations worldwide using raw materials that do not compete with the food sector and do not lead to deforestation.
Last January, President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Law, which aims to ease the country's dependence on imported, dollar-draining and pollution-generating energy sources by making the blending of ethanol and coco biodiesel in petroleum products mandatory. RA 9367 also provides a package of incentives for investors in the biofuels sector, including exemptions from the payment of specific and value added taxes; as well as financing for those engaged in the production, handling, and transport of biofuel and biofuel feedstock.
