Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Pangilinan: Meralco may expand to Asean

Manila Standard Today  
By Alena Mae S. Flores  Posted on Feb. 27, 2013 at 12:01am
Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest electricity distributor, is exploring  opportunities in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam as part of the company’s expansion into the international power industry.
“We’re looking at [Myanmar] but nothing specific, nothing definite at this stage. Well, we’re checking opportunities in Thailand as well,” Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters.
Pangilinan said Meralco was studying the feasibility of putting up a gas-fired power plant in Thailand because of the rich natural gas supply there.
“That’s one possibility,” Pangilinan said, but stressed nothing had been firmed up.
“Fuel sources supplied are by government [of Thailand] through PTT and the power producers are given an offtake… The returns are not high because you are protected in both ends—on the fuel source and on the offtake. So your risks are basically execution on building the plant,” Pangilinan said.
He said Meralco might build a power plant in Vietnam and purchase its own fuel requirement. The buyer of the electricity will be coursed through EVM (VietNam Electricity), the largest power company in Vietnam with an installed electricity generation capacity of 8,860 MW and a distribution network of 19,396 kilometers.
Pangilinan earlier said Meralco was looking at power generation opportunities in Vietnam for projects ranging from 150 MW to 600 MW.   source

No comments:

Post a Comment