Company to add solar farm to Markham Valley site

PNG Biomass is evaluating the addition of 11 megawatt solar farm to its Markham Valley site to reduce the cost of electricity, project director Michael Henson says.
He said by adding the solar farm, they could create a Markham renewable energy park of 41MW installed capacity and hopefully become a catalyst for the country’s transition to renewable energy by 2050.
Henson was speaking during an information breakfast hosted by the Lae Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
He said power generation and transmission in island nations was more expensive than in larger economies.
Henson said that was a reality faced in PNG but often misunderstood, ignored or brushed aside.
He said the Biomass project had left no stone unturned to slash their tariff to affordable prices.
However, he said PNG’s power price could not compete with the cheaper benchmarks from large-scale economies in Asia.
“We have explored every possible avenue to bring our power price down and for us. This meant redesigning our power plant, taking on concessional financing, seeking out grants, and reducing our returns to next to nothing,” Henson said.