January 14, 2019 | 12:03 am
ABOITIZ POWER Corp. remains open to
further acquisitions, possibly going beyond the Philippines in its expansion
plan, a company official said.
“We’re always on the lookout,”
Emmanuel V. Rubio, AboitizPower chief operating officer, told reporters last
week. “There are [target] projects that are very close to decision.”
On overseas expansion, he said the
company was scouting for opportunities in Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia.
“Other than technology, it’s also
location, what services are being provided by those facilities, not just
technology… We’re technology-neutral, we’re more about the value that the plant
is providing,” Mr. Rubio said.
“We’re always on the lookout in
terms of renewable development, but moving forward I think we have a number of
sites that can possibly be expanded,” he added.
The appetite for further expansion
comes after AboitizPower in September last year agreed to acquire voting and
economic stakes in the thermal power company of Ayala-led AC Energy, Inc. for
$579.2 million.
The acquisition will give it a 49%
voting stake and 60% economic stake in AA Thermal, Inc. The deal is awaiting
approval from the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
AC Energy’s thermal platform
initially consists of its partnership interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant
Ltd. Co. and GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.
GNPower Mariveles is the owner and
operator of an operating two-unit coal plant in Mariveles, Bataan each with a
capacity of 316 megawatts (MW). GNPower-Dinginin is developing a supercritical
coal-fired power plant with two identical units with a net capacity of 668 MW
each.
Once the transaction is completed,
AboitizPower’s ownership in the Mariveles coal plant will increase to 78.325%,
and in the Dinginin coal plant project to 70%. The Mariveles plant has been
operating since 2013, while the first unit of the Dinginin plant is expected to
go online in 2019.
“We’re still waiting for the [PCC]
approval for Dinginin… Siguro mga (Maybe in) two to three months,” Mr.
Rubio said.
He noted there is also room for
expansion in Therma South, Inc. (TSI), its 300-MW coal-fired power plant in Davao
City that started commercial run in September 2015. The power plant supplies
baseload power to more than 20 electric cooperatives and distribution utilities
in Mindanao.
In July last year, AboitizPower took
possession of the land-based power plant in Naga City, Cebu after years of
legal tussle over the ownership of the asset with SPC Power Corp.
“We believe Naga is going to be
providing an important service to the grid. We’re upgrading it, making it more
reliable, expanding the capacity. After the rehab we expect that to be 45 MW
compared to, I think, 22 [MW] before,” he said.
Mr. Rubio said AboitizPower is on
track to hit its goal of 4,000 MW in sellable capacity by 2020. Its net
attributable capacity as of mid-2018 was around 3,000 MW.
Additional capacity was scheduled to
be added starting last year — from the 420-MW third unit of Pagbilao Energy
Corp., the 68.8-MW Manolo Fortich hydro power plant of Hedcor Bukidnon, Inc.,
and the 340-MW coal-fired power plant of Therma Visayas, Inc. — Victor V.
Saulon
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