Sure wins big ‘green’ project in Vietnam

businessmirror.com.ph
16 JULY 2009

RENEWABLE energy company Solutions Using Renewable Energy Inc. (Sure) won a contract to construct and operate the biggest integrated waste-to-energy project in Vietnam. In a statement, Sure said it bested other bidders from Japan and Singapore to win the contract from San Miguel Pure Foods (VN) Co. Ltd. (SMPFV), a Vietnam-based joint venture between US meat manufacturing giant Hormel Foods Corp, and Philippine diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

Clarence de Guia, Sure spokesman, said the decision of the Vietnam government allows the company to form a 100-percent foreign-owned subsidiary. The subsidiary, to be named Sure Vietnam Joint Stock Co. (Sure-VNJSC), will serve as the vehicle to implement the renewable energy (RE) project for SMPFV, which will be implemented via the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme. Sure controls 60% of the joint-venture company, while Japan's MGL Leasing Corp, keeps the remaining 40-percent interest.

"As far as we know, the project marks the first time a Philippine company won an overseas bidding for a waste-to-energy contract," de Guia said. The Sure spokesman said this is, by far, the biggest waste-to-energy project venture in Vietnam and that it will be integrated into the largest single-site hog farm in that country.

The renewable energy facility, expected to cost $4.4 million, will be located in Cau Sat Hamlet, Lai Hung Village, Ben Cat District, in Binh Duong Province, where SMPFV operates a hog farm. The renewable energy project will convert waste from this hog farm into biogas to run a 2.3-MW power plant.

Aside from converting waste into fuel, de Guia said Sure also committed to construct a facility that will convert sludge into fertilizer, as well as a zero-discharge waste treatment plant that will recycle used water from the farm into 100-percent bacteria-free water.

In exchange for all the benefits it will get from the facility, the SMPFV will pay Sure a service fee for every kW-hour of electricity that will be generated by the power plant. The service fee will last for only eight years, corresponding to the effectivity of the BOT contract. At the end of the contract, de Guia said Sure will turn over the entire facility to SMPFV for free.

Aside from power and fertilizer sales, expected income from the project includes proceeds from selling certified emission reductions (CERs) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol on stabilizing unwanted greenhouse gases. De Guia said Sure has committed to secure on behalf of SMPFV the necessary approvals for the accreditation of the waste-to-energy facility as a CDM project.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, rich countries must cut greenhouse-gas emissions by an average of 5% by 2012, compared with levels in 1990. These countries can make up for their commitments under the treaty by funding greenhouse gas-reduction projects, like waste-to-energy facilities, located in poor countries.

These environment-friendly projects earn CERs or carbon credits, which represent the amount of carbon dioxide avoided by these clean projects. The value of global trading for carbon credits topped the $60-billion mark last year.