URC goes into power business

Food and beverage maker Universal Robina Corp. has diversified into the energy business by building a P2.52 - billion bagasse - fired power plant in Negros Occidental, primarily to supply electricity needs of of its sugar mill and sell the surplus to the national grid.

" Through this power plant, we will not only reduce the use of fossil fuel, but also sustain the livelihood of many sugarcane farmers in the URC Sonedco area," Rene Cabati, URC Sugar business unit general manager, said.

The 46megawatt Sonedco power plant will use the sugarcane by - product bagasse from the sugar mill in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. The mill has a capacity of 9,000 tons per day.

The sugar mill needs only about 23 MW to operate. Thus, URC said it will sell half of the generated electricity from the biomass- fed boiler to the national grid.

The company will break ground in Sonedco on March 18, and the plant is expected to start operating in August 2014.

For the project, URC has signed a 25- year operating contract with the Department of Energy on biomass renewable energy.

Last year, the Gokongwei- led URC said it intends to sell 4 to 5 MW in the first year of plant operations and 16 MW to 22 MW in the second year 2015.

Sonedco is one of the five URC sugar mills whose combined output accounts for up to 15 percent of Philippine sugar production.