SAN JOSE CITY—Businessmen in Nueva Ecija are investing billions of pesos in renewable energy plants to make the province the center of an industry that produces electricity with minimal impact on the environment.
The frenzy to put up green energy plants was started by the San Jose City “i” Power Corp. (SJC-iPower).
The company partnered with the Union Energy Corp., owned by businessman Lucio Co, to set up a P1.2-billion rice hull-powered system that is now generating 12 megawatts of electricity, 10.8 MW of which feed the Luzon grid.
The SJC-iPower is building another rice hull facility in Barangay Tulat here. The firm buys about 300 tons of rice husk per day at P1 a kilogram.
Joselito Blanco, chief operating officer of the V-Mars SolarEnergy Corp., said a power plant to be fueled by bana grass will be built in Lupao, Nueva Ecija, about 15 km northwest of here.
Bana grass, said Blanco, is similar to sugarcane.
In nearby Talavera town, the power plant of Green Innovation for Tomorrow (Gift) is scheduled to operate in two to three months.
The plant in Barangay Bakal II will produce 10.8 MW of electricity for the Luzon grid.
Pantabangan town hosts a hydroelectric plant which was completed in 1977, and the Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric plant. The plants’ combined output is 132.5 MW.
In Rizal town, a mini-hydroelectric plant that can generate 10 MW of electricity is nearing completion.