CHE Group has landed a $620 million contract for the design, engineering and commissioning of 20 rice husk biomass plants in Vietnam.
Each power plant will be able to generate 10 MW of electricity. They also will make non-hazardous ashes as a byproduct, which can be turned into cement substitute and silica fume for the semi-conductor industries.
The Malaysian-based company will collaborate with Vietnam’s Hau Giang Power Plant Joint Stock Co. to supply 200 MW of electricity using the rice husk biomass, reported StarBiz.
The biomass plants will be built in six provinces—Dong Phap, Hau Giang, An Giang, Can Tho, Kiew Giang and Soe Trang.
Initially, investors weren’t interested in biomass projects because of low feed-in tariffs in Vietnam compared to countries like Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, managing director Chang Khong Keong told StarBiz. Rice husks were thrown away or burned as a result. The Vietnamese government has since increased the feed-in tariffs, providing investors with greater incentive to consider biomass power generation projects.
The company plans to expand its rick husk biomass plant project to Cambodia and eventually Myanmar.
Economic development and revised energy policies in regions of Asia as well as Latin American, the Middle East and Africa will drive a more sustained increase in the adoption of wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies, according to research released in August 2013.
Frost & Sullivan’s Annual Renewable Energy Outlook 2013 says falling prices combined with the need to diversify away from a high reliance on fossil fuels, enable developing countries to accelerate the adoption of new energy sources.
Photo of rice husks by Flcikr user Aaron May, CC 2.0