By Alena Mae S. Flores
Green Future Innovations Inc. led by Itochu Corp. and JGC Corp. of Japan plans to start commercial operation of the P6-billion ethanol and cogeneration facility in Isabela early next year.
Green Future said in a statement construction of the bioethanol project was 75 percent complete. The company tapped JGC Philippines Inc., a unit of Japan Gas Corp., as project contractor.
The Energy Department, meanwhile, said it saw no impediment to the registration of Green Future’s project as a bioethanol and renewable energy producer.
Renewable Energy Management Bureau officer-in-charge Ruby de Guzman said the Isabela Bio-ethanol and Cogeneration project was “fully compliant” with the state standards, leaving the financial aspect as the remaining concern to be resolved prior to the grant of the go-ahead order.
A team from the department visited the project site in a remote barangay in San Mariano last month to validate the progress of construction in relation to the registration application filed by project proponent Green Future.
Project manager Joel Lubguban said the bio-ethanol and cogeneration plant boasted of a state-of-the-art technology that would set the pace for zero-waste industrial production in the country in terms of solid, liquid and gas emissions.
Other shareholders of Green Future are Philippine Bioethanol and Energy Investments Corp. and Taiwanese holding company GCO.
Green Future recently signed an agreement with Isabela State University for cooperation in the research and development of sweet sorghum as a potentially viable source of feedstock for the bio-ethanol and cogeneration plant.
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