MGen eyes P3-B for solar plants

MERALCO PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation unit of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), is looking at investing up to P3 billion in 2022 to finance the development of two solar power plants.

MGen President and Chief Executive Officer Jaime Azurin said the company is looking at additional P2- to P3-billion investment for the other two solar facilities.

For this year, Azurin said the consolidated capital expenditure for projects under construction is about P3 billion.

MGen has set a target of 1,500 megawatts (MW) renewable energy (RE) capacity over the next five to seven years.

Azurin said they have more solar projects under development. Currently, MGen is constructing the 78 megawatts alternating current (MWac) solar power plant in Baras, Rizal.

Negotiations for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts are ongoing for the solar power plants in Cordon, Isabela (45 MWac); in Nueva Ecija (19 MWac); and in Ilocos Norte (50 MWac), he added.

“For 2022 and beyond, we are eyeing construction of the first large-scale wind farm and development of solar storage that can compete in the mid-merit space,” said Azurin.

“For the mid-merit, yes, we are looking at certain projects for the mid-merit. We have not finalized any agreement with other parties,” he added.

Meralco and MGen acquired a significant stake in Global Business Power Corp. (GBP) in December last year. The transaction was completed on March 31 this year.

Azurin said they have streamlined their operations and integrated GBP and MGen under one functional organizational structure in September.

“We have already started unifying our headquarters and business center, which will be ready by early next year,” he said.

“While formal integration is underway, it may take two to three years to fully complete regulatory requirements,” he added.