ThomasLloyd's Portfolio of Biomass Projects Set to Benefit From a New Era of Chinese-Philippine Relations Following the State Visit of President Duterte - Seite 2

T.U. Michael Sieg, Chairman and Group CEO of the ThomasLloyd Group sees the Group's invitation to and participation in the Beijing visit 'as special recognition of the previous successes of ThomasLloyd Group and its Chinese and Philippine partners. The results of the summit, and the many meetings which took place around it, will form the basis for faster growth and development of Philippine infrastructure.' Based on the summit outcome and the climate of goodwill now existing, ThomasLloyd projects hope to benefit directly from the new appetite from Chinese banks and other financial institutions to support vendor finance and project finance for Chinese exports in capital goods to the Philippines.

During the state visit, commercial agreements between the participating project partners, Bronzeoak Philippines Inc., Wuxi Huaguang and the ThomasLloyd Group, were signed in a ceremony, in the presence of President Duterte and other senior members of the Philippine government. These contracts form the basis for a long-term cooperation, a faster implementation and successful realisation of the biomass power plants on Negros Island in the Philippines. The power plants comprising 70MW near the cities of Manapla, San Carlos and La Carlota on Negros Island will convert sugarcane waste into electricity using a low carbon-emitting process, Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Technology. Before this use as feedstock for biomass power plants, sugarcane waste was burnt in the fields, a now illegal practice that contributed significantly to air pollution. With its use of local sugar cane waste, this project is an exciting development for all the stakeholders and a boost for the local community. This will bring further economic growth and better standards of living, particularly in rural areas of the region contributing to the enhancement and protection of the environment, and improving the local population's overall quality of life.

Referring to this, Tony Coveney, Managing Director and Head of Project Finance at ThomasLloyd Group, said:

'It was a privilege and an honour to participate in this landmark event in Beijing. The inclusion of our projects, in which we have invested, is recognition of the impact and success we have had and continue to have in partnership with Bronzeoak and Wuxi. As with our successful solar projects, ours is an investment template for others to follow.'