Hundreds of acres of land previously used for planting sugar cane are being sought by the owners of the new biomass power plant at Nabou as areas for planting a special tree species to be used for fuel.

This was confirmed yesterday by the Chief Executive Officer of Nabou Green Energy Limited, Lee Jun Hyung.

Nabou Green Energy has already invested $USD45 million in the construction of a 12MW Biomass Power Plant, which is close to 80 percent completion along the Queens Highway between Nadi and Sigatoka.

The plant uses a special tree species, Gliricidia, which takes about two years to mature and is ready to be harvested and is regarded as a Short Rotation Coppice.

The company was also looking at saw milling residue to fuel the plant.

Mr Lee said farmers or landowners who do not do cane farming anymore now have a chance to utilise their vacant land to plant these trees.

“We will guarantee that we will buy the trees from them when it is matured and ready for harvesting,” he said.

Mr Lee said he had noticed a lot of these lands lying idle between Nadi and Sigatoka and this would be the idle place to plant these trees.

He said the trees take only two years and planting could be done in stages so that the farmers harvesting of the trees is continuous.

“In this way he will continue to earn money,” he said.

The company is targeting April 2017 as the start of its commercial operation and its renewable energy would be sold to the Fiji Electricity Authority.

The company has already areas on Viti Levu an Vanua Levu to supply around 400,000 dry tonnes of fuel.

“It’s a chance for the utilisation of idle land and these vacant sugar lands are being given the chance to grow and supply the timber,” he said.

EDITED BY: KATHRIN KRISHNA

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