MGreen seen to seal RE deals to beef up portfolio by 350 MW

By Lenie Lectura - July 31, 2019

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/07/31/mgreen-seen-to-seal-re-deals-to-beef-up-portfolio-by-350-mw/

MGEN Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), a wholly owned subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), is expected this year to seal deals in renewable energy (RE) that will beef up its portfolio by 350 megawatts (MW).

“There are potential deals in the pipeline. One or two deals this year,” said Meralco President Ray C. Espinosa. He declined to provide details, saying the deals are covered by a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) signed by the company. “Once a deal has been firmed up, we will make the necessary announcements.”

MGen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Meralco. MGen President Rogelio Singson said the RE projects being eyed by MGreen are “almost near completion.”

“In terms of our commitment, of the group to expand our RE projects, we are lining up in the immediate future, as early as 2020, about 350 MW of RE projects that are almost near completion. Unfortunately, we are covered by an NDA, so we can’t disclose until we sign agreements with them,” said Singson.

He said the RE deals will be signed this year but the commercial operation date of these RE projects, which include solar and microgrid, “could be next year.”

Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan had said that RE would play a significant role in Meralco’s power portfolio, following President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address.

Duterte reiterated the need for the country to develop more RE sources and reduce dependence on traditional energy sources such as coal.

MGen is pushing for the completion of 1,000 MW of RE projects in the next five to seven years.

As part of this plan, it established MGreen to serve as the platform for the strategic push to develop renewable-energy projects, primarily solar, wind and run-of-river hydro. 

In addition, the large RE requirement of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives under the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is more than compelling reason for MGen to allocate resources into this area.

Singson said the RE deals this year are “definitely” targeted to be completed in time for the release of RPS guidelines. 

“My recollection is 500-600 MW RPS requirement, may kick in by 2022,” he said.

RPS mandates distribution utilities to source a minimum portion of energy from renewable sources, thus guaranteeing a market for renewable-energy generators. This minimum will be increased on a yearly basis.

“We are working on several renewable-energy prospects and we recognize the significant reduction in the development cost, particularly for large-scale solar and wind over the past years. Notwithstanding the ongoing requirement for new reliable base-load generation to support the fast-growing Philippine economy, we believe that the time is right to focus on building our green energy capacity and we intend to be a key player in this expanding sector,” Singson said earlier.