Supermarket tycoon Co buys majority stake in rice husk-fueled biomass plant

Supermarket chain owner Lucio Co has bought a majority stake in Nueva Ecija-based renewable energy firm San Jose City I Power Corp., which will build a P1-billion, 9.9-megawatt biomass plant in Tulat Road, San Jose City. According to SJC IPower chief operating officer Edgardo Alfonso, Co's Union Energy Corp. bought a 66-percent stake in the project. The remaining 33 percent is owned by 21 rice millers in San Jose City. Alfonso said that the Co-helmed SJC IPower is now eyeing other renewable energy projects. "We are currently working on several projects including municipal waste to energy projects," he said. SJC IPower was formed by the rice millers with the endorsement of the local government as a power plant using rice husk as fuel—a timely project, said Alfonso, that highlights the importance of rural biomass utilization to renewable energy supply sustainability and environmental management. The biomass plant is said to be the first of its kind and size using 100 percent rice husk in the country, providing power without the burning of thousands of tons of coal. It is scheduled to be completed in 2014. — BM, GMA News