Published
December 7, 2018, 10:00 PM By Myrna M. Velasco
The power investment
unit of Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. will be shoring up the group’s
hydropower development portfolio next year by additional 70 megawatts.
According to Joseph C.
Nocos, vice president for project development of Alsons Power, the Alcantara
firm will start work on their planned 40-megawatt hydropower project in Bago
River in Negros Occidental latter part of 2019.
Another venture the
company will be advancing next is the planned Sindangan hydropower facility in
Zambaonga del Norte that will have initial capacity of 10-15MW but to be ramped
up eventually to 30MW.
Nocos indicated the
investment per megawatt on the proposed run-of-river hydropower projects would
be in the range of US$3.0 million to US$4.0 million – thus, the magnitude of
capital outlay for the projects may sum up to US$210 million to US$280 million.
“Our approach here is
to build according to the needs of the market…And one of the main and a
recurring theme of the company here is the effect of global market forces on
fossil fuel prices that we’ll hope to mitigate through RE (renewable energy),”
he said.
The first hydropower
development of the Alcantara group is the 15MW Siguil plant in Sarangani
province — which it has been targeting to bring to commercial commissioning by
year 2020.
On the off-take or
power supply agreement of the power plant’s capacity, Nocos explained that the
company will have to undertake competitive selection process (CSP) as to the
power utility that will be buying their generated electricity – primarily those
needing to comply with the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) enforced by the
government.
“We need to go through
competitive selection process but we’ve identified distribution utilities that
have expiring contracts —those that have RPS goals that they need to beat; and
so we’re looking to help them address these points,” the Alsons Power executive
has expounded.
He likewise indicated
that the Toyota Tsusho Corporation partner in their thermal plant developments
is being invited again to join them in the hydro ventures.
“They (Toyota Tsusho
executives) are looking at it, but they haven’t decided — but they are
considering that one. They will look at it as any other project, so hopefully,
we’ll get them to join us,” he stressed.
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