ecoWise Holdings looking at renewable energy to drive growth

By Pamela Almeda, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 June 2008 1928 hrs

SINGAPORE : Singapore mainboard-listed ecoWise holdings is looking at renewable energy to drive growth moving forward.
The company is diversifying its business, and has recently set up a new unit to convert biomass into energy.
ecoWise has built its business around cleaning up waste in shipyards in Singapore.
It accounts for 75 percent of the collection and recycling of copper slags in the country.
But ecoWise is now seeking to diversify its business and it said renewable energy is the way to go.
It wants to focus on using biomass to produce energy.
Lee Thiam Seng, Chairman and CEO, ecoWise Holdings, said, "Basically we're looking at two forms of (converting) biomass to energy. One is the combustion method - which means burning the biomass to produce steam, to produce power. The other one is actually the so called 'under the anaerobic process' to produce methane gas and this gas can (be) used to generate power."
ecoWise hopes to build and operate a new plant in countries such as China and Indonesia within the next one to two years.
It is looking to use waste materials like wood, rice husks and even manure from cattle farms, to generate electricity.
Mr Lee said, "We are actually looking at various countries to locate the resources owners, (which are) mainly those areas that have a lot of biomass including wood waste, rice husks (and) manure from the cattle farm.
"We would like to work with these resource owners, team up with them, set up a plant to put these wastes into good use to produce power, (and) sell the power back to them and to their community."
ecoWise is also hoping to generate extra revenue, for example, by selling first grade fertiliser or building materials as well carbon credits.
It is the first Singapore company to successfully secure a sale of carbon credits, by selling 95,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to Japan's second largest power company, Kansai Electric.
For its recycling business, the company sees more growth coming from its partnership with New York-listed cement company Holcim. - CNA/ms

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