Aug 17, 2007

2 S'pore firms to build $30m biomass power plant

TWO local companies have teamed up to build a biomass power plant to turn wood waste into electricity.

Biofuel Industries yesterday awarded a $30 million contract to Industrial Power Technologies (IPT) to build the facility, which should be running by early 2009.

It will generate 14.9 megawatts (MW) of electricity an hour by converting 600 tonnes of wood waste daily, collected from local construction and horticultural activity.

It will be the first biomass plant in Singapore to use wood waste, of which the Republic produces 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes a day, as a raw material.

The plant's daily output is enough to power the equivalent of 1,500 four-room HDB homes, said IPT chief executive Danny Hoon.

Part of the electricity generated will be kept by the plant for its own use, while 9.9 MW an hour will be sold to the national grid.

Biofuel Industries chief executive Eugene Lee said electricity from biomass was attractive on two counts: It is environmentally friendly and costs less than half the price of producing electricity from fossil fuels.

"This renewable and inexpensive energy also addresses the problem of solid waste disposal," he added.

The company also converts wood waste into biomass fuels, which is exported.