By
Iris Gonzales (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 6, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines — MRC Allied Inc. sealed its acquisition of a 15 percent stake in
Sulu Electric Power and Light Philippines Inc. (Sepalco).
The
move is in line with its “buy and build” strategy to become a major renewable
energy player in the country.
MRC
president Gladys Nalda said Sepalco still had room to expand its capacity to
100 MW.
“As
we officially join Sepalco today, we hope to make a significant contribution to
the project and be actively involved in the management thereof. Our goal here
is to increase its operational efficiency, improve its financial position and
explore possibility of expansion. Based on our initial evaluation, we can still
maximize operations by increasing capacity up to 100 MW,” Nalda said.
As
an investor in Sepalco, MRC aims to help the power company become more
efficient so it may eventually expand its capacity.
Nalda
said the acquisition of a stake in Sepalco moves it a step closer toward its
goal of building a portfolio of 1,000 MW of clean and renewable energy.
“More importantly, this will bring us closer
to our target of 1,000 MW of clean energy by 2022. So as we move toward fully
achieving our goal, we acknowledge the hard work and contribution not just of the
people within our organization, but also the support of those around us - our
investors, our partners, our stakeholders, our LGUs,” Nalda said.
Sepalco
is touted as the biggest solar project in Region 8 and has been operating since
2016. It will complete MRC’s 200 MW target for 2017.
The
power plant lies on a 70-hectare property in Palo and has a total of 188 solar
panels and is connected to the existing 69-kilovolt transmission line of the
National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in the province.
The
Sepalco project is on top of MRC’s 100 MW solar project in Pampanga and 60 MW
solar project in Cebu, both of which are in the advance stages of
pre-development.
No comments:
Post a Comment