Ayala lowers stake in Ilocos wind farm

Manila Standard Today
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Sep. 03, 2015 at 11:45pm

The Ayala Group has sold part of its stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp., which owns and operates an 81-megawatt wind farm in Barangay Caparispisan, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, to a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp.

Ayala Corp. disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange unit Ayala International Holdings Ltd. sold on September 2, 2015 its interest in Luzon Wind Energy Holdings B.V to DGA NLREC B.V.

“After the sale of Luzon Wind, AC Energy Holdings, Inc. still remains the largest owner of NLREC with an economic stake of approximately 36 percent,” Ayala said.

It did not cite the transaction cost. Ayala and Mitsubishi Corp. have been partners since 1974 when they signed an agreement to jointly explore investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Luzon Wind owns part of Ayala’s stake in North Luzon Renewable held by wholly-owned subsidiary AC Energy Holdings, Inc.

AC Energy previously owned 64 percent of North Luzon Renewable, which indicated it sold 28 percent to DGA NLREC, a unit of Mitsubishi.

Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure, or PINAI, a P26-billion fund owned the Government Service Insurance System, APG and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., owns 32 percent of the Pagudpud wind project.

UPC Philippines Wind Holdco I B.V. holds the balance of 4 percent.

AC Energy president and chief executive Eric Francia earlier said the company was waiting for guidance from the government on the wind installation target and the expansion of the Pagudpud wind project, the country’s second largest wind project to date.

AC Energy, through affiliate North Luzon, completed the 81-MW wind farm in Pagudpud on Nov. 11, 2014.

The Energy Department earlier said it would bid out the construction of wind projects outside the approved installation targets.

“We are waiting for guidance for the next round [of wind installation]... There is a potential increase [expansion of the Pagudpud wind farm] by less than double the size,” he said.

AC Energy is expanding its energy portfolio by increasing its investments in wind and hydro power plants.

AC Energy president and chief executive Eric Francia earlier said the company also considered venturing into solar power projects.

“We will continue to monitor solar. Panel prices have gone down... We are not participating in the race but [it] doesn’t mean we have forgotten solar. It’s a medium to long-term thing,” Francia said.

He said the company’s hydro projects had yet to take off, although Tinoc hydro project in Ifugao was in an advanced stage of development.

Quadriver Energy Corp., the joint venture of AC Energy and Sta. Clara Power Corp., received an approval from the Energy Department for the Tinoc hydro projects in Ifugao totaling 14.5 MW.

Francia said the company was also open to participating in the privatization of the remaining hydro power assets owned by the government.

Francia said AC Energy’s attributable capacity now stood at 700 MW and was nearing its goal of attaining the 1,000-MW attributable capacity target of power plants.

He said the remaining 300 MW of the target was expected to be filled up from the expansion of GN Power’s Mariveles 600-MW coal plant in Bataan. source