Japan Firm bids $300 Million Dollars E-tryke Mass production in the Philippines; more jobs

Electro-glide: Tokushi Nakashima, president of Uzushio Electric Co.'s subsidiary in the Philippines, rides the company's electric tricycle in Manila. | KYODO

• 1 charge: 50 Km max
• Cost: ₱_____
• No. of passenger: 7-9 pass
• Weight: 500 Kg
• Speed: 60kph
• Imported oil savings: $100 Million USD per year

Japanese electric vehicles maker and distributor Uzushio Electric Co. is making a bid to distribute electric tricycles in the Philippines as the country implements a plan to replace 100,000 gasoline-burning, air-polluting tricycles by 2016.

Tokushi Nakashima, head of BEET Philippine Inc., a local subsidiary of Uzushio Electric Co., told a press conference Monday that his company has submitted a bid to the Asian Development Bank, which is providing $300 million toward the e-tricycle project being carried out in cooperation with the Philippine government.

The company, which opened in March, also registered its e-trike model with the Philippines' Land Transportation Office, affirming its roadworthiness and making it accessible for interested private consumers.

Nakashima said Uzushio Electric, having developed more than 50 models of electric vehicles in Japan, is ready to help the Philippines solve its environmental woes through participation in the project, while at the same time improve the lives of tricycle drivers who are expected to take home a bigger daily income because electricity costs less than gasoline.

Also called tuk tuks, tricycles, which carry between four to nine passengers, are commonly seen in residential areas of Metro Manila, as well as on highways in the countryside. They are notoriously loud and emit a lot of exhaust.

The Philippine government hopes the e-tricycle project will cut down on noise, save more than $100 million a year in fuel imports, create jobs through local production of e-tricycles and decrease annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 260,000 tons.

An ADB study shows gasoline-fueled tricycles are responsible for more than two-thirds of all air pollution generated by the country's entire transport sector, and without intervention, the carbon emissions are set to almost quadruple in less than 25 years.

Nakashima said BEET's e-tricycle is made of five key components, which satisfy the requirements for the Philippines' various road and weather conditions: a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, an AC motor, an inverter, a vehicle control unit, and a battery management system.

It weighs around 500 kg, accommodates up to seven people including the driver, runs at speeds of up to 60 kph and can cover 50 km on a single charge.

Nakashima said BEET Philippine has tied up with Softbank Mobile Corp. to develop a billing system for lease or loan payment, as well as the integration of an advanced telecommunication system to track the trikes.

BEET Philippine is in talks with potential assemblers in the Philippines in preparation for mass production, he added.

Nakashima declined to disclose how much the company's e-tricycle units would sell for since the ADB is still assessing its bid, along with those of another Japanese firm, a South Korean one and a Taiwanese one.

Japan Times

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$500 Million renewable energy projects would be completed by Bronzeoak Philippines in 2017; says ThomasLloyd

Bronzeoak Philippines Inc., a bioenergy developer, will complete $500 million worth of clean energy projects in 2017, adding 100 megawatts (MW) to the Philippine grid, its financier said Monday.

The projects are funded by ThomasLloyd, a European asset management and project finance group that investments especially in Asia renewable energy developments.

Under the ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund, the company already invested $82 million in its Philippine portfolio, and is committed to invest $130 million more in the next two years.

The company will likely seek bank finance to complete its clean energy projects in the Philippines, Michael Sieg, ThomasLloyd Group chair and CEO told reporters Monday.

A solar power and three biomass-fired power plants in Negros and a biomass power plant in Tarlac are now in the pipeline. According to ThomasLloyd, these projects will generate 2,750 jobs and open up opportunities for farmers to sell farm waste as feed stock for the biomass projects.

Now under construction in Negros Occidental is the $45-million San Carlos Solar Energy plant which will be operational and connected to the grid in the second quarter of 2014. This 22 megawatt (MW) facility will deliver 35 million kilowatt hours (kWh) to the grid, ThomasLloyd noted.

Another project in the construction phase is the $85-million, 19.99-MW San Carlos Biopower which will start commercial operations in 2015. The plant will deliver 140 million kWh to the grid, said ThomasLloyd.

The biomass plants will use farm waste like sugarcane stalks, rice husks, coconut shells, palm frods, corn stalks, corn cobs and peanuts.

The biomass-fired power plants are expected to buy P500 million worth of agriculture wastes per year, said

Bronzeoak Philippines president Jose Maria Zabaleta Jr.

A joint venture between the Bronzeoak Group and Zabaleta & Co., Bronzeoak Philippines is mainly into developing bionergy projects.

The projects are going to be registered with the feed-in-tariff allocation for biomass projects, said Sieg. "The feed-in tariff allocation for biomass is significantly undersubscribed at the moment," the ThomasLloyd official noted.

The Department of Energy is now enforcing the feed-in-tariff scheme that gives incentives to local and foreign investors in renewable energy. – VS, GMA News

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Philippines registers ₱21.9-Billion budget surplus in August 2013 from ₱1.221 trillion expenditures

The Philippines registered a wider budget surplus in August, which helped trim the gap in the first eight months, prompting a Cabinet official to say that government efforts in keeping healthy finances are bearing fruit.

The Department of Finance noted the government recorded a ₱21.9-billion surplus after income and expenses in August were tallied, reflecting over 800 percent more than the ₱2.5 billion it registered a year earlier.

The surplus was beyond the ₱20.3 billion on program, and was able to trim the deficit in the first eight months to ₱82.6 billion.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima noted the August surplus came at a time when government was nearly on-target in spending, saying it was a sign of success in sustaining fiscal strength.

"The above-target surplus is highly encouraging given that the government came very close to hitting its spending target in August," said Purisima.

Revenue collections totaled ₱155.1 billion in August, against expenditures of ₱133.2 billion. Spending nearly hit the ₱138.4 billion on program.

Tax revenues amounted to ₱145.7 billion, representing 94 percent of the total, while non-tax sources contributed ₱9.4 billion.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue was able to collect ₱118.1 billion for the month, while the Bureau of Customs was able to bring in ₱26.1 billion.

The Bureau of Treasury recorded a ₱3.4-billion income in August other offices amounted to ₱7.5 billion.

In the first eight months, revenues reached ₱1.139 trillion, versus expenditures of ₱1.221 trillion.

"As other economies in Asia are resorting to aggressive revenue measures, we have proven that good governance has had a dramatic effect in restoring stability to the coffers of the government," Purisima said. – Siegfrid Alegado/VS, GMA News

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