Negros Island Biomass Holdings, Inc. (NIBH), a biomass power generation firm has reportedly lined up three biomass projects in Negros Occidental, Philippines. As per trusted sources, the expansion strategy is in response to the government’s FiT (feed-in-tariff) program that offers incentives to biomass developers for generating renewable energy (RE) and electricity.

According to The Manila Times, Don Mario Dia, Treasurer of Islabio claims that the company’s 20 MW San Carlos BioPower Inc. (SCBB) facility will be unveiled this year while the 25 MW capacity South Negros BioPower Inc. and the 25 MW North Negros Biopower Inc. will be energized later in 2019.

The biomass facilities will be constructed on the island towns of San Carlos, Manapla and La Carlota and are currently undergoing commissioning phase, Dia further added.

For the record, NIBH was acquired by AC Energy’s wind energy generation arm, Presage Corp., last year and reportedly owns shares in the NIBH’s three biomass entities that are efficiently engaged in biomass power generation and electricity distribution.

The FiT program for the record, is an incentive scheme that provides connections to the grid as well as transmission, purchase and payment for electricity that is generated from renewable energy (RE) sources like biomass, solar, wind, ocean and hydropower.

As per the rules specified in the FiT program, eligible RE developers would be guaranteed incentives for each kilowatt of energy they produce for a period of 20 years.

Incidentally, biomass developers were offered a rate set at P6.5969 per kWh in 2017, however DoE reports suggest that the rates for biomass are likely to be reduced to P6.5639 per kWh and P6.5310 per kWh, in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

As per reports, of the 250-MW capacity of the biomass projects, around 170.33 MW is reported to be completed and considered FiT-eligible by the Department of Energy (DoE), eventually encouraging developers to complete their projects before the 2019 deadline.