Aboitiz Power hikes 2016 capex to P51.5 B

Aboitiz Power Corp. has increased its programmed capital expenditures (capex) this year to build power projects that would enable it to get closer to its 4,000 megawatts (MW) goal.

After the company’s stockholders’ meeting yesterday, AboitizPower president and chief operating officer Antonio Moraza said the company raised its capex by 50 percent from P34.4 billion to P51.5 billion this year for three ongoing projects.

These projects are the 68-megawatt (MW) Manolo Fortich hydropower plant, 340-MW coal-fired power plant in Cebu under Therma Visayas Inc. and the 420MW coal-fired Pagbilao III.

“The one that will be finished the earliest is Manolo Fortich, that’s to finish sometime next year, probably third quarter. Other than that, Pagbilao will probably be done by November next year and Cebu would probably be sometime early 2018,” Moraza said.

This year’s capex is over 80 percent of the Aboitiz Group’s total capex.

Moraza also said pre- construction works are ongoing for the 600-MW Redondo Peninsula Energy ( RP Energy) project in Subic, Zambales.

RP Energy is a consortium of Meralco PowerGen Corp., AboitizPower and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

AboitizPower chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz said construction of RP Energy is expected to start towards the end of the year, and the cost is also included in this year’s capex.

“RP Energy was expected to already be in construction last year... hopefully, towards the end of the year, we can probably start that project,” he said.

With all these projects, AboitizPower is on track to meet its goal of 4,000 MW in generating capacity.

“On targets, we are more or less on target of achieving our 4,000-MW goal but there potentially could be a little bit of delay as far as 2020 year [target] is concerned. We are a little behind on RP Energy but everything is moving,” Aboitiz said.

Meanwhile, the power firm is also interested in bidding for Chevron Corp.’s Asian geothermal energy blocks in Indonesia and the Philippines once these are offered.

“We’re always on the lookout for opportunities in the Philippines and or in the region now. We understand Chevron is thinking of selling their assets. When that time comes... it’s something we’ll probably be looking at. At this point, we are waiting for formal advise,” Aboitiz said.