Toyota Tsusho takes 25% stake in Alsons hydro power venture

At least 25 percent shareholdings had been reserved to Japanese firm Toyota Tsusho Corporation on the R3.9-billion Siguil hydropower project of Alsons Power Group that will yield capacity of roughly 15 megawatts.

But according to Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR) Chairman Tomas I. Alcantara, the Japanese company has yet to firm up its investment decision on their hydropower project, pending the completion of technical, financial and commercial studies of the venture.

He added that with Toyota Tsusho’s participation, this will give the project company access to financing via the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) facility of the Japanese government – which delves primarily into trade of carbon credits.

An initial capital injection of 600 million to 700 million yen has so far been anticipated from the Japanese facility for the Siguil hydropower project.

Alcantara said it becomes a normal thrust for them to offer equity to Toyota Tsusho in all of their forthcoming ventures – the Japanese firm being its highly valuable partner in its Sarangani coal-fired power project.

ACR Executive Vice President and COO Tirso G. Santillan noted that the project implementation frame “is now in very advanced stages… but it is just taking a longer process because we will need to do CSP (competitive selection process) on our PSAs (power supply agreements).”