Nickel Asia unit cleared to retail electricity

A unit of Nickel Asia Corp. has received the go-signal from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to operate as a retail electricity supplier ( RES) to market electricity generated by renewable energy firm Emerging Power Inc. (EPI).

The ERC issued the RES license to Manta Energy Inc., the exclusive retailer and marketer of EPI.

The RES license allows the company to engage in selling, brokering, marketing and aggregating electricity produced by various energy sources, including EPI’s renewable energy power projects to qualified contestable consumers in the Retail Competition Open Access program.

The RES license is valid for five years, is non-transferable, and must be renewed at least 60 days prior to the expiration of the current license.

“We are very grateful to the ERC for issuing the RES to our company. Rest assured we will fail their trust and contribute to a better, more efficient energy sector in the country,” Manta Energy president Alberto Guanzon said.

He said the RES license is a step closer to bringing renewable energy into the forefront and “greening” the commercial power supply of Contestable Customers.

Manta Energy is targeting contestable customers all over the country with an average monthly demand of 750kW and above.

Manta and EPI are both majority owned by Nickel Asia, one of the country’s biggest mining firms. Nickel Asia has guaranteed the loan facility of EPI to develop renewable sources energy in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

EPI is currently building a 100- megawatt solar farm in Subic, Zambales, which is among one of the biggest solar farms in Southeast Asia. The company also has geothermal developments in Mindoro and Biliran province.