The local government of Butuan City partnered with a Japanese firm to install a 2.5 MW biomass energy plant this year.
Chodai Philippines Corporation Vice President Toshimichi Hosoya said the company is just waiting for the local government’s approval before it starts the construction of the facility.
The said plant will turn rice husks into fuel. Hosoya added that the rice husks can also run the turbines of the biomass plant.
He emphasized that the project is one of the major renewable projects of the company with the local government units in Mindanao.
“Mindanao has a lot of rice farms. That’s why we can get the rice husk easily. It has so much potential for renewable energy projects — a lot of potential. We know rice husk project, before it’s just garbage but we are trying to make that into fuel. That is a biomass project,” he was quoted in a Manila Bulletin report.
Hosoya also said that the region has a huge potential for renewable energy projects.
Chodai was among the firms that joined the three-day Davao-Japanese Community’s 100th Anniversary Business Seminar to look for investment opportunities in the city.
Head of the Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC) April Marie Dayap said participants were mostly eyeing projects in manufacturing, agri-tourism, and environmental sector.
“Among those investors who expressed their interest in the city are into the manufacturing industry, agri-tourism, waste composting companies, and tourism. We further want to bring them here and hopefully develop investment here,” she said.
Japanese Consul General Yoshiaki Miwa will be booming in Davao City as Japanese manufacturing firms are interested in building in the city.
“Manufacturing industry has a very wide range. We can start at a level that will match the level of industry in the city. We just have to create a strategy. I understand that the DCIPC and DCCCII know about this and are thinking about ways to accommodate the manufacturing sector,” he said.
