Published July 18, 2017, 10:01 PM By Myrna M.
Velasco
Global Business Power Corporation
(GBPC) earmarks capital spend of P5 billion for the acquisition of 50-percent
equity stake in Alsons Thermal Energy Corporation (ATEC), the holding firm of
the power plant ventures of Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. of the
Alcantara Group.
According to GBPC President Jaime T.
Azurin, the company will need to tap loans for the ATEC acquisition, and
discussions with targeted banks have been ongoing.
Prior to the Alsons deal, he noted
that the capital outlay of the company had just been confined yet at P200
million because it has no major projects that are being advanced into
construction within this year.
That transaction, he said, somehow
beefed up the company’s investment plans as it will now be fully involved in
the second phase of the Sarangani Energy Corporation (SEC) power project.
The SEC-2 facility will be of
another 105-megawatt capacity that is targeted for completion in year 2019. The
first 105MW unit was first set on commercial operation last year.
Azurin noted that ATEC’s San Ramon
power project in Zamboanga, with targeted capacity of another 105MW, will
enjoin company shareholders to firm up implementation plans by next year.
Beyond projected economic growth in
Mindanao, the other key driver for the project taking off from blueprint will
be the concretization of the planned interconnection of the Visayas and
Mindanao grids.
“If that project pushes
through, it will need that power plant there,” Azurin said, emphasizing that in
grid interconnections, baseload facilities close to the landing sites of the link-up
would be critically needed.
Furthermore, he
stressed that the “Build, Build, Build infrastructure plan” of the Duterte
administration could “spur economic growth in the area,” and such will
eventually require power capacity additions.
No comments:
Post a Comment