Aboitiz finalizing $750-m plant

Manila Standard Today

By Alena Mae S. Flores  Posted on May 24, 2013 at 12:01am

Aboitiz Power Corp.  plans to invest P125 billion in energy projects over the next five years, including $750 million for a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Cebu, a company executive said Thursday.

“We’re developing a 300-MW plant in Cebu called Therma Visayas. We’re doing the studies on sites…We’re still in the preliminary stage of setting that up,” Aboitiz Power president Erramon Aboitiz told reporters in a briefing.

He said the company planned to finance the project through a combination of debt, representing 70 to 75 percent and equity (25 to 30 percent).

“Hopefully we can give the notice to proceed sometime in the last quarter of this year,” Aboitiz said, adding that if plans pushed through, the company expected the project to be completed by the end of 2016.

Visayas will need an additional 2,000 MW by 2030, according to the projection of the Energy Department. Visayas’ peak demand is expected to reach 3,270 MW, from the current peak demand of 1,540 MW.

Aboitiz did not say where the project would be located, although the company earlier said it was looking at putting a plant in Toledo, Cebu.

The Cebu project, once approved, will form part of the Aboitiz Group and its partners’ power investments, which are expected to reach P190 billion over the next five years.

Aboitiz Power’s share in the investment is around P125 billion, which will increase its energy portfolio to 3,500 MW from close to 2,000 MW.

Other Aboitiz Power’s projects in partnership with other players include the planned 600-MW coal project of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. at the Subic Bay Freeport, the 400-MW expansion of the Pagbilao coal plant in Quezon and the 300-MW Davao coal plant due for completion by first quarter of 2015.

Aboitiz Power is also constructing more than 100 MW of hydro capacity around the country, including run-of-river hydro plants such as Tudaya (14 MW), Tamugan (12 MW) and Sita (28 MW) in Mindanao.

Aboitiz said he expected power demand to rise in line with the growth of the country’s gross domestic product.

“With growth in GDP, we can expect demand of power to continue to go up,” he said.

Aboitiz said while there was a drop in the company’s earnings in the first quarter, he expected the financial performance to improve once the pending application with the Energy Regulatory Commission for its new contracts with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines was approved.   source