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Thursday, March 28, 2024

BOI approves Chinese firm’s waste heat recovery facility in Cebu

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The Board of Investments said Friday it approved the P531.2-million project of Sinoma Energy Conservation Waste Heat Recovery Co. Inc. involving a 4.5-megawatt power generating plant in Naga City, Cebu province.

WHR is a unit of Chinese energy company Sinoma Energy Conservation Ltd. which is engaged in investing in waste heat power generation projects and related engineering technology development, consultancy and design.

As a domestic market enterprise, Sinoma complied with the qualification requirements under “energy” of the 2020 Investment Priorities Plan which is now known as the Strategic Investment Priority Plan under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act.

Despite the delayed construction caused by the pandemic, the plant is expected to commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2022 with 17 employees, mostly from the city of Naga and nearby areas.

Under a power supply agreement, the WHR power generating plant will provide significant support to a specific cement company in Cebu by capturing and using the waste heat of the cement plant to generate steady and cost-effective supply of electricity at about 23,130,000 kilowatt-hours per year.

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The project will result to indirectly increase power supply available for use by other consumers. The project is important in recycling the heat emissions generated by the cement plant lest the gas emissions will simply go to waste.

According to the Philippines’ Technology Needs Assessment for Climate Change Mitigation report dated June 2018, the cement industry already installed 3 waste heat recovery power generation systems with a total capacity of 17.5 MW. These are Cemex Antipolo Plant with 6-MW capacity; Lafarge Teresa Plant with 4.5 MW; and Eagle Cement Corp. with 7 MW.

The same report indicates that WHR system lowers plant specific energy consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants emissions.

As of 2020, the domestic energy mix relied heavily on coal with 42 percent in installed capacity, followed by renewable energy at 29 percent, oil-based at 16 percent and natural gas at 13 percent.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said the country would shift to greener and sustainable initiatives to reduce greenhouse emissions and as compliance to the Glasgow Climate Pact to reduce coal use and cut carbon emission.

Energy demand is expected to rise again as the economy recovers from the pandemic. Building up of capacity and employment of energy-efficient technologies are necessary to ensure a stable and hopefully, cleaner supply of electricity, said Rodolfo.

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