A ‘piece of junk’ took the limelight in rites held Friday at the San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc. where Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes led officials in the inaugural ceremony.

Unveiled was the marker, which looks like a red dragon keeping an eye on the new facilities, was actually a massecuite, or a  sugarcane syrup, stirrer, which was transferred from the now-defunct San Carlos Sugar Milling Company, Inc.

The mill was the first sugar central to be established in Negros Island – in 1908.  One hundred years later, observers note,  interestingly the first co-generational plant in the country and in  southeast Asia now stands in the city.

SCBI  operates the integrated ethanol distillery and power co-generation plant located in the San Carlos Agro-Industrial Economic Zone.

President Arroyo was scheduled to inaugurate the plant but failed to come due to bad weather. She is extremely satisfied with what SBCI has achieved, Sec. Reyes said.

The Environment secretary noted that the country now ranks No. 2 in geothermal energy and is tapping solar energy, too, as the Philippines is near the equator and has no winter season.

The plant has the capacity to mill 1,500 tons of cane per day to produce 30 to 40 million liters of ethanol annually and about 8 million megawatts of power. Part of its production will be channeled to the local grid to support rural electrification.

It will provide about 10 percent of the ethanol requirements of the country as covered by the Biofuels Act of 2006.

Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap, in a speech read by Agriculture Mariz Agbon of the Philippine Agriculture Development and Commercial Corporation, said his agency will increase public investments on irrigation and road networks and sustain the delivery of critical support in seeds technology, better planting practices, extension and training services as  well as research on crops, soil suitability and post-harvest faculties, along with food logistics and access programs.

Also attending the inaugural were Ambassadors Stephen Lillie of the United Kingdom and Rajeet Mitter of India as well as Rep. Julio Ledesma IV.

Bronzeoak Philippines, the SCBI developer, with principal sponsor Zabaleta and Company, shared expertise and resources along with the San Julio Realty, Inc., Valmayor Ventures, Inc. the National Development Company, the Majent Group and the FE Clean Energy of New York for the realization of the first plant of its kind in the country and in Southeast Asia.

The project costs about P3 billion and has created 500   industrial jobs apart from for supporting 8,000 year-round jobs in agriculture.

Officials said the inauguration came at a critical time for the nation to continue its energy programs while lessinging the effects of  climate change.  SCBI Chairman Jose Maria Zabaleta called it the “Philippine answer to the call to take action to mitigate climate change because our climate and soils are ideal for it.”

SBCI shipped its first production to Petron, which now sells gasoline with a 10 percent ethanol blend sold in Luzon and major cities in the country.

Zabaleta called the San Carlos initiative a model that can be replicated with big and small farmers benefiting from the provision of raw materials for processing.

San Carlos Mayor Eugenio Lacson called the SBCI program a big boost to the city’s economy and to employment in the area in keeping with the Sustainable City vision of his leadership under the local government’s development plan. “The plant  has given an alternative to sugar workers with planters themselves investing in the initiative,” Mayor Lacson added.

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