Biomass Fuel Price
biomass fuel price increase in some locations in Asia in the last 5 years
Until mid nineties, rice husk, wood waste, palm shells, EFB, etc. were considered as waste in Southeast Asia. But today, in several parts of India, Thailand and Malaysia, it is difficult to get these fuels, at a reasonable price. The biomass fuel price in some parts of Asia has gone as high as USD 60/ton.
Demand for rice husk started picking up in the Philippines from 2006 onwards, especially, after the development of a 1 MW power plant. In some parts of Thailand, the price of rice husk went very high, when the demand was more. Of late, in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the demand for palm shell is very high resulting in increased price close to that of coal. Now a days, cement industries are using palm shell to replace coal mainly because of CDM benefits.
Though, biomass fuel prices are at the high end in several places of Southeast Asia and India, a huge amount of biomass is wasted in Africa without being used for power generation. Rice husk is either burnt in the fields or dumped along the sides of paddy fields or roads.
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biomass wasted in some locations in Asia and Africa
Open burning and dumping of rice husk and wood wastes are very common in several parts of Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and many other remote parts of Asia. In Thailand, we came across some places, where wood bark and empty fruit bunches are either dumped or burnt. In some countries, open burning is banned as per their environmental Acts.
Greenfield project developers should give more importance for fuel security, throughout the plant life.