Sarangani Energy planning green energy venture

Business World Online
Posted on August 13, 2015 08:03:00 PM

SARANGANI ENERGY Corp. (SEC), a unit of Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR), is preparing for its first renewable energy project after it completes the first phase of its 210-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani.
The company’s proposed 15-MW run-of-river hydroelectric power plant will also be in Maasim, tapping the Siguil River.

Start of construction for the hydro facility is planned by the first quarter next year, according to Oscar Benedict E. Contreras III, corporate communications head of ACR’s power group, but other project details are still being finalized.

In April, Joseph C. Nocos, ACR vice-president for business development, said the company is aiming for a balanced power mix incorporating fossil and green energy sources, with the company open to participating in any privatization of the Agus and Pulangi hydroelectric complexes, on which more than half of Mindanao’s power supply depends.

Meanwhile, the first 105-MW unit of SEC’s coal-fired plant is scheduled for commercial operations within the first quarter of 2016 and the full 210-MW capacity by 2018.

“(The first unit) is about 98% done... Commissioning will commence in October 2015 and commercial operations targeted to begin by first quarter of 2016,” Mr. Contreras said.

The 210-MW capacity is already fully contracted, said Mr. Contreras, with the SEC signing power sales agreements with several electric cooperatives and two distribution companies in different parts of Mindanao. These include co-ops in South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Del Norte, North Cotabato, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Oriental. The private firms are Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co., Inc. and Iligan Light and Power, Inc., both in Northern Mindanao.

The $570-million SEC plant, which at the start met opposition from local Catholic leaders and environmental groups, is the single largest investment in Sarangani province and the entire Soccsksargen, a region that is among the top producers of major agricultural export commodities.

Soccsksargen -- which stands for the region’s four provinces and one city: South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City -- is the top tuna producer in the country, second in pineapple and third in banana.

Another ACR subsidiary, San Ramon Power, Inc., is also developing a 105-MW coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City with construction set to start within the second half of 2016 and commercial operations seen by 2019.

The power group is projecting to supply about 25% of Mindanao’s peak demand by 2019 with a combined capacity of 588 MW.

The group currently operates three diesel plants in the southern island: Mapalad Power Corp.’s 103-MW plant in Iligan City; Southern Philippines Power Corp.’s 55-MW facility in Alabel, Sarangani; and Western Mindanao Power Corp.’s 100-MW plant in Zamboanga City. -- Marifi S. Jara source