Manila TImes
Aboitiz Power Corp. (AP) plans to vie for government’s remaining hydroelectric power plants that will be put up for auction. Erramon Aboitiz, AP president and chief executive, said that the company is interested in the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) plants in Luzon and the Agus power complex in Mindanao.
The CBK plants in Laguna have a combined capacity of over 700 megawatts. The facilities are operated by Japanese firm J-Power and Sumitomo Corp. under a build-operate-transfer deal with the government.
The Agus plants, on the other hand, also have a total capacity of over 700 megawatts. The hydro power plants are located in several areas in Northern Mindanao.
Aboitiz earlier said that the company’s interest in the hydro facilities, should the government proceed with their privatization, would complement their thrust to put up a number of coal-fired power plants across the country.
In line with this, the company would shift its resources to baseload plants that could generate reliable round-the-clock electricity.
Among the coal projects the company intends to pursue is the 300-megawatt coal plant in the Subic freeport zone in Olongapo in partnership with Taiwan Cogeneration Corp. Also in the pipeline is the expansion of the 232-megawatt STEAG coal plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental, which is a joint venture between AP, German firm Evonik Steag GmbH and La Filipina Uygongco Corp.
The company would also pursue the construction of a 150-megawatt coal plant in Davao.
At present, AP controls a total power generating capacity of 2,577 megawatts. Of the total, more than 1,200 megawatts are from AP’s geothermal and hydro assets.
AP is the power generation and distribution arm of the Aboitiz Group of Cebu, a local conglomerate with interests in transportation, banking, food and manufacturing.
AP’s shares closed lower on Friday at P20.3 apiece from the previous day’s close of P20.6.
Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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