August 24, 2018 | 7:05 pm By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
ALSONS Consolidated Resources, Inc.
(ACR) said it remains on track to complete three power plants through 2022,
which is expected to add 225.1 additional megawatts (MW) to its portfolio.
In a statement issued Friday, the
Alcantara-led company said the projects include the second section of the 210
MW Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant with a capacity
of 105 MW, the 15.1-MW run-of river hydroelectric power plant in Sarangani
province, and the 105-MW baseload coal-fired power plant by San Ramon Power,
Inc. (SRPI) in Zamboanga City.
ACR said SEC Section 2 is now 80%
complete, with commercial operations scheduled to start within the first
quarter of 2019. The company will start commissioning the facility’s 105MW
capacity by the fourth quarter of this year, which is expected to service three
million residents of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte,
Zamboanga del Sur, Cagayan de Oro City, and other areas in Mindanao.
The first section of the Sarangani
power plant began operating back in 2016, and currently delivers power to over
three million people in the General Santos-Sarangani area.
The company will also start
construction for the SRPI baseload plant in the first half of 2019, with
commercial operations by 2022.
ACR Chief Finance Officer Robert F.
Yenko noted that more than 80% of the combined capacity of SEC Section 2 and
SRPI have been contracted, given that it has secured power sales agreements
(PSAs) with key customers prior to the start of construction.
“Securing those PSAs long before
many of the new baseload plants even began construction was a key components of
our strategy and has helped us in coping with the current power surplus in Mindanao
which has become the new normal in the island,” Mr. Yenko said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the hydroelectric plant
at the Siguil River basin in Maasim, Sarangani Province will start operating by
the first half of 2020. The P3.7-billion plant is the company’s first in the
renewable energy sector, and will supply power to Sarangani province, General
Santos City, and key municipalities of South Cotabato.
Aside from the three projects in
Mindanao, ACR said it is currently on the lookout for opportunities in the
Visayas region.
“Demand for power in the Visayas is
likely to grow particularly in light of the economic recovery in Leyte and
Samar. We are seriously looking at the Visayas region as a potential market
particularly for our diesel capacity,” Mr. Yenko said.
The company is also looking at more
run-of-river hydroelectric power projects in Negros Occidental, Sarangani,
Davao Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Agusan, and Surigao del Sur that will add
more than 200MW to its capacity.
ACR recorded a net loss attributable
to owners of the parent amounting to P76 million in the second quarter of 2018,
as revenues went down 6.2% to P1.81 billion. This brought the company’s
attributable loss to P95.75 million in the first semester, with revenues down
by 2.5% to P3.48 billion.
Shares in ACR went up by four
centavos or 3.28% to close at P1.26 each at the stock exchange on Friday.
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