BANI–An Indian company is set to showcase its biomass energy technology here by building a one-megawatt project using sorghum, rice husks and other farm products to produce electric power.

Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. is withholding the identity of the company but he said company officials will arrive in Bani before the end of the year to sign a memorandum of agreement for the project that will not require the municipality to put in counterpart funds.

Navarro said the company is a pioneer in biomass technology in India and it will be its first time to introduce its green technology in the Philippines.

One megawatt of power is enough to generate electricity for one half of the households in Bani, said Navarro.

The mayor said it took two years for the municipal government to plan the biomass project and it is finally close to being realized.

“When this finally pushes through, it could lead to the massive planting of sorghum, rice and other tropical crops to sustain the raw materials needed by the plant,” he said.

Navarro believes that more biomass energy projects will be built in Bani and other towns of Pangasinan and the Philippines if the project proves successful.

NO MORE WIND ENERGY

Bani officials started considering biomass energy as an alternative source after the initial plan for the use of wind energy did not appear viable based on a one-year survey on wind velocity undertaken by a Japanese company.

Bani is a coastal town facing the West Philippine Sea.

Navarro said the survey showed that there is a enough wind in Bani at night but slowly dips in the morning until noon and only peaks again in the afternoon, prompting the Japanese proponent of a wind farm to look for another site in the country where wind velocity is higher any time of day.

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