Rapidly increasing solid wastes and the acute shortage of landfills are pushing countries in Southeast Asia to adopt sound waste management practices.
Governments are also looking to leverage indigenous resources in order to meet renewable energy targets and become energy independent. As a result, investments in the Southeast Asian biomass and waste to power market are on the rise.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Analysis of Biomass and Waste to Power Market in Southeast Asia, finds that the market earned revenues of US$1.12 billion in 2014 and estimates this to reach US$1.85 billion in 2019. The study focuses on wood chips, empty fruit bunch, bagasse, municipal solid waste, and rice husk.
"Strong financial support from the government in the form of feed-in tariff rates for renewable energy is fueling the biomass and waste to power market in Southeast Asia," said Frost & Sullivan Energy and Environmental Senior Research Analyst Adwaith Visveswaran. "In addition, farmers and mill owners looking for alternative revenue streams are selling biomass feedstock, widening market scope."
However, the highly unorganized feedstock market faces seasonal price fluctuations. The lack of a price setting mechanism means plantation owners in certain parts of Southeast Asia are more inclined to giving away their unused waste for downstream products at a higher value than supplying feedstock for biomass projects.
Building a partnership with the feedstock community by sharing a part of the equity will lead to an invested relationship. Establishing consortiums that represent plantation owners and regulate price setting mechanisms will help overcome price shocks and accelerate the shift to biomass power generation.
"The entry of European vendors has intensified competition," added Adwaith. "Therefore, building synergies in the form of strategic partnerships will be crucial to ensure technology improvements and enhance scale efficiencies in the Southeast Asian biomass and waste to power market."
Source: http://www.frost.com/