News & Update

Chodai will conduct the feasibility study on the Biomass Power Generation Project in the Caraga region, Mindanao Island, the Philippines that has been underway since 2015.

Under the "Subsidy budget for measures to promote the introduction of equipment for the rationalization of energy use in FY 2016, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan", we made a joint proposal together with our business partner Kurimoto, Ltd. to seek support for the project. This project,  "Caraga region biomass power generation project feasibility study" (hereinafter, "the study"), adopted on May 31, 2016. The period for the study is scheduled to continue until 31st January, 2018 which will also include the schematic design of the biomass power plant that utilize rice husks as fuel. 

In FY2015, we conducted the feasibility study on the biomass power generation business in the Caraga region in Mindanao Island under the "Energy Demand Mitigation Infrastructure and System Promotion Project (hereinafter,  "pre-F/S")". 

As a result of study of the stable procurement possibility of various biomass resources, we have selected a 2 MW rice husk power generation project which has a good potential of spreading to other area of Mindanao Island as the pilot project model in the Taguibo Industrial Park in Butuan City.

This project is a pilot plant for the promotion of a biomass power generation business that has a business model with improved profitability. With the stable collection of rice husk necessary for project operation, not only that we are able to generate income from the small-scale power generation business, but also there is a high-value-added by-product produced from the incinerated ash of the burned rice husk. In this study, we plan to conduct a detailed survey of the pilot plan, such as strengthening the biomass fuel (rice husk) procurement system, examining the effective utilization of the incinerated ash, power plant design, and also conducting environmental impact assessment. Also, by introducing highly reliable and technologically superior Japanese products, we will be able to contribute to the improvement of the electrification rate of Mindanao Island through stable power generation. To achieve all of this, we will make concrete efforts towards the implementation of this project.

For the study of effective utilization of incinerated ash, we will adopt the combustion method (internationally patented technology) developed by Associate Professor Umeda of Osaka University and Kurimoto, Ltd. to obtain high value-added non-crystalline high-purity silica as combustion ash. We will also conduct experiments on the usefulness of the generated non-crystalline silica and collect information for building sales channels.

To date, we have been working on Mindanao Island, a region where employment shortages and peace issues are deeply rooted. Together with our local business partners, Equiparco and Twinpeak, we have been able to contribute to the regional economic development of Mindanao, mainly in Butuan City and Northern Agusan province through a variety of businesses that creates several opportunities in the locality. 

We will continue to promote our businesses in line with the Japanese government's promotion of high-quality infrastructure exports and the establishment of a low-carbon society. Through low-carbon economic development, we would like to contribute to mitigate the challenges for  global warming, the achievement of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of Japan and the establishment of peace in Mindanao.