The company, together with the Energy department, inaugurated the first phase of the project following successful testing and commissioning.

“That signals the formal start of commercial operations of the biomass plant,” Mr. Marasigan said on the sidelines of the Natural Gas Summit 2015.

The P2-billion biomass project will be located in a five-hectare complex in barangay Tulat, San Jose City.

It represents the first phase of the 24-MW planned biomass project in the area.

Mr. Marasigan said that the second phase will also soon supply more power.

“That is expected to be operational also within this year. It’s a 12-MW plant,” he said.

He added that the plant may further be expanded but such depends on the available resource in the area.

“It can be [expanded] but it depends on the available feedstock,” Mr. Marasigan said.

For the first 12-MW facility, SJC IPower will utilize 110,000 metric tons of rice husks annually.

SJC IPower is 66%-owned by Lucio L. Co’s Union Energy Corp. The remaining interest is held by 21 rice milling firms in Nueva Ecija.

Late last year, another company bared its plan to develop a 20-MW biomass plant in Negros Occidental.

San Carlos Biopower, Inc. will invest $90 million for the project, which will be located in San Carlos City.

Construction for the project is eyed for April next year, with operations expected to start after 22 to 24 months.

The company already tapped Wuxi Wagwang of China as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.