Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The investment arm of
the Ayala group intends to retain majority stake in its 540-megawatt Kauswagan
coal-fired power project in Lanao del Norte when the time comes that an
acquiring-investor brings in the right check.
AC Energy President and
Chief Executive Officer Eric T. Francia said “our decision is to retain
majority share and that the focus now is more on the power project’s
completion,” with him indicating that the sell-down option may be exercised
further down in the future.
The plant’s completion
to commercial commissioning phase for the first unit may come around June this
2019, then the next three (3) units will be every two months after – also
within this year to early part of 2020.
The Kauswagan plant is seen as a very strategic asset that will support the
required capacity underpinning for the P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas
interconnection project.
When the last link of
the nationwide interconnection of the country’s power grids will be concretized
as targeted in year 2020, the Kauswagan plant will be the most ready and viable
anchor asset on the part of the Mindanao grid.
The US$1.0-billion
transmission link-up project had been on blueprints for decades, and it was
only this time that it is being advanced with the more focused initiative of
the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
The Kauswagan power
facility of the Ayala-led consortium comprises of four units at 135MW capacity
each. The project was developed by AC Energy Holdings, Inc. of the Ayala Group
in tie-up arrangements with the Philippine Investment Alliance for
Infrastructure (PINAI) Fund and Power Partners Ltd. Co. under corporate vehicle
GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co.
In coal-fired power developments, the rule-of-thumb cost is at US$2.5 million
per megawatt, hence, conservative estimate for the project would hover at
$1.350 billion.
This Ayala power
facility development, like many of the power plant ventures in the country,
also leaned on the 70:30 debt-to-equity financing ratio.
Upon the completion of
the interconnection of power grids, the Kauswagan plant’s generated electricity
will no longer be confined to capacity wheeling in Mindanao grid, but it could
also be shared to Luzon and Visayas grids.
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