SAN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija – The rice husk-fueled plant which is expected to be completed soon in Barangay Tulat here will uplift both the energy condition and the income of local farmers, the city chief executive said.
Mayor Marivic Belena said the San Jose City I-Power Corporation, a collaboration of local rice millers and a mall chain company, will command an increase in the value of rice which remains to be the city’s top product.
“Kasi kung mataas ang bili sa ipa, siyempre kaya naming bumili ng mas mataas na palay, magiging mataas din ang produkto namin,” she said.
The rice husk-fueled plant is expected to be completed soon as Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras, Belena, 2nd District Rep. Joseph Violago, Vice Gov. Jose Gay Padiernos and other officials led the groundbreaking ceremonies on Friday.
I-Power is designed to generate 9.9 megawatts which, Almendra said, would be enough for this city’s consumption.
“As a matter of fact, I was saying that embedded generation ito,” Almendras said. As embedded, he explained, the power it generates will be consumed by the “immediate surroundings.”
Like Belena, Almendras believe that the project will largely benefit local rice producers.
“The good thing is winner po ‘yung project,” he said. “Yung feedstock mo agriculture…waste siya. Ipa-process mo to generate power, yung by-product ay fertilizer,” he added.
Edgardo Alfonso, president of San Jose City Rice Millers Association and San Jose I-Power chief operating officer, said the feasibility study for the project was validated in a study of Energy Facility of the Asean Center for Energy and Philippine Rice Research Institute in 2004.
The project was finally realized, he said, though the “strong support from our local government unit here.”
“We will be using 110,000 metric tons of rice husks annually to power the plant. We will be paying P1,000 for every metric ton of rice husk that is delivered to us,” he said.
Alfonso said there is an excess of 50,000 tons of rice husks in this city.
