Updated October 7, 2019, 10:38 AM By Myrna M.
Velasco
DAVAO CITY – Hedcor, Inc., a subsidiary
of Aboitiz Power Corporation, will put up the first 20-megawatt (MW) of its
targeted 200MW run-of-river hydropower project next year.
Hedcor President and COO Carlos
Aboitiz said the facility will be constructed in Sablan, Benguet in the
Cordillera region and the final investment decision (FID) on that venture is
eyed early part of 2020.
“We hope to be able to build that
over the next 3-4 years, so that’s the next in the pipeline. If everything goes
well, we will start construction in September next year and bring it into
operations by 2021 to 2022,” he said.
The off-take for the project’s
capacity can be offered via the retail electricity supply (RES) system of
marketing in the retail competition and open access (RCOA) policy regime of the
industry, or the company may opt to join one of the competitive selection
processes (CSPs) being carried out by the distribution utilities.
The project funding, said Aboitiz,
will largely depend on a number of factors including the topography of the
targeted site, the length of connection required for the eventual capacity
wheeling of the plant’s generated electricity to the grid, and how big is the
weir needed for the hydropower facility.
“It could range from $1.8 million to
$3.5 million – it depends on the specifics of the project,” he stressed, noting
further that another major consideration will be justifying the economics of
the venture based on prevailing market conditions in the restructured
electricity sector.
“It’s hard to make economic sense
because the prices in the market today are very low – so it’s difficult to
build around certain pricing. You also have to be very flexible and you have to
adapt around the many uncertainties going on in the industry,” he said.
Aboitiz emphasized the 200MW
targeted installations are considerably a “moving target.” These prospective
facilities will be located in the Luzon grid.
“Most of the projects are in the
Luzon area, primarily because there is a need… because of the growing demand in
Luzon,” he said, adding that the Mindanao expansion is not quite on the
company’s radar this time because that particular grid is still on capacity
surplus.
“Mindanao area is quite a healthy
balance – there’s significant amount of reserves, so it’s hard to look for
projects here now – because you don’t see the market needing additional
capacity in the next five years,” he indicated.
Hedcor currently has 277MW in its
portfolio – and the latest completed projects reinforcing its capacity buildup
had been the 19MW run-of-river hydropower venture in La Trinidad, Benguet and
the 68.8MW Manolo Fortich project in Bukidnon.
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