By Jason de Asis

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, November 20, 2010–A Filipino-Taiwanese company has expressed interest to become a locator inside the economic zone here and invest some P380 million worth projects covering renewable energy, mariculture and coco oil.

Eco Market Solutions is planning to put up a P150-million biomass gassification power plant, a P200-million mariculture project and the coco mill by 2011.

Gao Pronove, EMS representative told newsmen here Monday that the power plant will start construction next year and will provide scalable and green power on a 24-hour basis to the entire municipality of Casiguran which houses the ecozone and surrounding areas.

Eco Market Solutions has investments in agro-industrial processing and in information technology.

Pronove said the power plant will have a power-generating capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW), more than thrice the town’s average total power demand.”This is a lot bigger in terms of capacity than the one in Bocaue, Bulacan which has a capacity of only 200 kilowatts (KW),” he said.

Pronove announced the investments at the sidelines of the turn-over of P5 million worth of medicines by Gaudi to the Aurora Memorial Hospital and rural health units in the northern towns of Dinalungan, Casiguran and Dilasag at the Agricula Hall in Casiguran.

Pronove said they will use Indian technology in building the biomass plant which will utilize rice hull and coconut husk as fuel. “We will gasify the agricultural waste and turn into gas,” he explained. 

He said they decided to venture into green and renewable energy because the global green economy is growing. And Apeco is on track to take full advantage of the fast growth of the global green economy. The EMS technology will be cleaner, cheaper, more efficient and sustainable than the existing power supply in many non-grid areas in the Philippines.

“There is now a global green economy. You need green power so you can have a green industry. That’s where the Philippines needs to position itself,” he added. (Jason de Asis)