P170-B Five-Year Capital Outlay
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
May 26, 2012, 4:01pm
MANILA, Philippines --- With gross capital outlay of P170 billion in the next five years, the Aboitiz Power group is designing its investment portfolio in such a way that it will further diversify its energy mix.
The line-up of the company’s power generation ventures will include coal, hydro as well as gradual plunge into solar for off-grid areas.
According to Aboitiz Power president and chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz, the company has been beefing up its portfolio “by building new capacity through investments in greenfield projects and rehabilitation of existing ones.”
In a press briefing, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Jon Ramon Aboitiz explained that the bulk of the programmed capital expenditures will be for the 600-megawatt Subic coal plant project which they are pursuing with Meralco PowerGen as well as the 400-megawatt expansion of the Pagbilao plant which they will co-implement with TeaM Energy Philippines.
The company executives explained that they will be building “the right mix of energy sources in its generating portfolio to be able to deliver better power solutions to help drive economic activity at reasonable and competitive prices.”
Beyond the ventures they have been pursuing in the Luzon grid, the current investment focus of the Aboitiz group is for power supply-snarled Mindanao grid. In their project blueprints are the coal and hydro facilities that will add up 354MW capacity in the region’s future power supply.
The AP chief executive reiterated the P35-billion rolling investments they have lined up for the island. “We are looking at putting up 354 megawatts in new capacity by 2015 to help address the critical power shortage in the region. The new capacity will come from the 300-MW clean coal facility of Therma South and 54MW of run-of-river hydro plants of Hedcor,” he said.
Presently, the Aboitiz Power group can be regarded as an industry player with the most diversified portfolio – with it also into geothermal as well as into other thermal assets, such as the power barges which can be utilized as peaking facilities; or in cases of supply shortages, they can serve as alternative supply source.
The Aboitiz group explained that as far as Mindanao solutions are concerned, the medium- to longer-term options must be set in place for both supply and prices to eventually stabilize.
For the Luzon grid, its ventures will be centered for now on the two coal projects. The proposed expansion of its Magat plant is another project that the company and its partners will be deciding on as targeted next month.
On top of these investment plans, the company indicated that it will also continue to explore for other opportunities, including the assets being offered in the privatization program undertaken by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.
The Aboitiz Power executives intimated that “our decision to pour major investments into the power industry together with our partners is a vote of confidence for the current administration and the Philippine economy.” source
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