(The Philippine Star) | Updated October 17, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
With ongoing projects and pending acquisitions in its plate, Aboitiz Power
Corp. is keeping its eyes peeled for opportunities in the power sector despite
perceived oversupply in the country in the next five years, its top official
said.
The company continues
to watch out for upcoming opportunities for acquisitions and new power projects
in the country, AboitizPower president and COO Antonio Moraza said in an
informal media roundtable with reporters.
“Any power assets
become available in the Philippines, we will look at it,” he said.
This is despite the
company’s projection of an oversupply situation across the country’s three main
grids in five years starting this year given the numerous developments of power
plants from various developers, Moraza said.
In particular, he said
the oversupply in Mindanao is very “serious” as the region is expected to
double its existing capacity.
“Peak demand [in
Mindanao is] at 1,300 megawatts (MW). Another 1,000 MW is going to be
delivered, so you’re going to double supply in a period of two years,” Moraza
said.
“Reserves are running now at 700 MW and
there’s no San Miguel plant No. 2, FDC plant No. 3 yet and when Ayala [project]
comes on in three years’ time,” the AboitizPower official said.
Recently,
AboitizPower—through its wholly-owned unit Therma Power Inc.—has finalized
purchase and sale agreements for the acquisition of 66.1 percent in GNPower
Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. and 40 percent GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. from
affiliated investment funds of The Blackstone Group L.P.
The deal, however, is
subject to approvals by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the
Board of Investments (BOI).
The Aboitiz group is
also eyeing to bid for the Philippine geothermal assets being unloaded by
American energy giant Chevron Corp. with its potential partner Marubeni Corp.
of Japan.
“It’s still full speed
ahead,” Moraza said, pertaining to the Chevron bid participation.
The company currently
has power projects currently under construction working on the 68-MW Manolo
Fortich hydropower plant, 340-MW coal-fired power plant in Cebu under Therma
Visayas Inc. and the 420-MW coal-fired Pagbilao III.
“Cebu’s under
construction, Pagbilao’s under construction. After that, we don’t have any new
contracts. [But we will] not stop. We’re looking but we don’t have any new
contracts yet,” Moraza said.
AboitizPower is also in
pre-construction works in for the first 300 MW of the 600-MW Redondo Peninsula
Energy (RP Energy) project in Subic, Zambales.
Moraza said RP Energy
is seen to break-ground in mid-January 2017. “We’re gonna award the
[engineering, procurement and construction] EPC contract very soon,” he said.
RP Energy is a
consortium composed of Meralco PowerGen Corp., AboitizPower and Taiwan
Cogeneration International Corp.
No comments:
Post a Comment