Vietnam starts Mekong Delta rice and biomass energy complex

Construction began in Vietnam's Can Tho City on October 3 on a rice processing complex with annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes and an attached biomass fuel supply centre, Viet Nam News reported. The project, developed by Green CT Company, is designed to link rice production with renewable energy generation.

The Mekong Delta is Vietnam's largest rice-producing region, covering about 3.6mn hectares and producing more than 24mn tonnes of paddy a year. Milling that volume generates large quantities of rice husks, which developers now aim to turn into fuel for power plants rather than leave as waste.

The Can Tho facility is the first of five rice processing complexes paired with biomass supply centres that Green CT plans to build across the delta.

Green CT General Director Nguyen Minh Tuan said at the groundbreaking ceremony that upgrading processing technology and making better use of agricultural by-products had become unavoidable as the global economy moves towards greener growth.

The complex will use modern processing equipment to raise the quality of export rice. Husks recovered from Green CT's plants will be supplied to the Hau Giang Biomass Power Plant, in which the Japanese firm Erex has invested.

Erex Senior Executive Officer Tomoki Kakuta said the Hau Giang plant, described as Vietnam's first commercial biomass power project supplying electricity directly for local use, burns more than 100,000 tonnes of rice husks a year and provides power to about 50,000 households. He added that Erex plans to invest in 18 biomass power plants in Vietnam.

Le Cong Ly, deputy chairman of the Can Tho City People's Committee, said integrated processing chains that use agricultural by-products are expected to raise the value of rice and other farm products in the region.

He urged the investor and its partners to keep construction on schedule and to build a transparent raw material supply area that brings tangible benefits to cooperatives and farmers while guaranteeing stable fuel supplies throughout the year.