Project concludes requirements to provide renewable energy

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
THE Biofuel project in the Markham Valley of Morobe has concluded all requirements to provide 100 per cent renewable power energy in the country.
The Markham Valley Biomass Ltd (MVBL) is the second known and approved biomass licence to provide power energy in the country.
The first is the New Britain Palm Oil Biofuel Power Generation Project in West New Britain. The approval of MVBL, a subsidiary of Oil Search Ltd, brings to nine the number of electricity undertakers operating in the generation segment.
Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) said the generation licence issued to MVBL concluded the stringent processes that was involved in electricity generation requirements.
Commissioner and chief executive officer Paulus Ain said MVBL submitted its licence application to the ICCC on July 17, 2017 for review and approval after its power purchase agreement (including power purchase prices) with PNG Power Ltd was reviewed and approved by the ICCC.
Ain said MVBL had a PPA with PPL to supply 15MW of power from Markham biomass to the Ramu Grid.
“As required under the electricity industry policy, a copy of MVBL’s application was forwarded to the electricity management committee (EMC) to review the technical aspect of the application concurrently with ICCCS’s internal assessment,” he said.
“On Aug 22, 2018, the EMC provided its assessment and recommendation to the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission.
“After assessing MVBL’s application, it was found to be consistent with Section 24 E and 24F of the EIA. Taking in to EMC’s recommendation, the ICCC considered MVBL to be a suitable entity to hold a generation licence, bringing to nine the number of undertakers operating in the generation segment of the industry.”
Markham Valley Biomass Ltd project-director Michael Henson thanked ICCC for approving its application for the power generation project.