AboitizPower sets $500-M budget in 5 years

Aboitiz Power Corp. is spending $500 million over the next five years to meet its 4,000-megawatt (MW) capacity target and support its expansion overseas, a ranking company official said yesterday.

In a text message, AboitizPower president and COO Antonio Moraza said the $500-million budget is a guide to bankroll its portfolio expansion. “It’s a target, not a hard number,” he said.

The spending target includes the budget for this year, Moraza said. For this year, its parent firm Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. said it will spend P59 billion in a bid to increase total capacity to 4,000 MW by 2020.

In a statement, AboitizPower CEO Erramon Aboitiz said the company is on track to reaching its target of 4,000 MW in attributable capacity by 2020 while maintaining a healthy portfolio of renewable energy facilities.

“We will continue to push our balanced mix strategy because we believe that the long-term energy security of the country can be solved by balancing sustainability, accessibility and reliability of power,” he said.

The company marked its 10th anniversary at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday, highlighting its focus on pursuing its balanced mix strategy while riding on the robust economic growth of the country.

To meet its capacity target, AboitizPower has lined up five projects with a total capacity of 828.3 MW for completion.

These include the 69-MW Manolo Fortich hydropower plant in Bukidnon and the 8.5-MW Maris Canal hydro project in Isabela through its subsidiary SN AboitizPower.

Together with its partners, AboitizPower is also in the process of completing the 340MW Therma Visayas baseload power plant in Toledo, Cebu and the 400-MW Pagbilao power plant expansion.

The company is also in the process of commissioning the 8.8-MW biomass power plant in Lian, Batangas.

Beyond this year, AboitizPower is co-developing the 2x300-MW coal-fired power plant in Subic, Zambales under Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy), targeted to go online by mid-2020.

Apart from local expansion, Moraza also said the budget will finance its investments in Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

“We don’t have anything out there yet, so it’s zero base in these countries,” he said.

The power firm earlier said it is pursuing hydropower project ventures in Indonesia and in Myanmar, as both these countries have the potential for several hundreds of megawatts of hydropower projects.

So far, it has already gotten a head start in Indonesia after it partnered with SN Power and PT Energi Infranusantara to invest in PT Auriga Energi which will conduct the feasibility studies for the exploration and development of a potential 127-MW hydropower generation project along the Lariang River in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In Myanmar, AboitizPower has identified a site and sent staff to study the site.

If project development starts in these countries, these will be on top of the company’s 4,000-MW capacity target.

Currently, the group has a net sellable capacity of 3,955 MW.

On the power distribution front, the company will ride on the healthy economic growth in areas served by Visayan Electric Co., Davao Light and Power, Cotabato Light and several economic zones it serves. Combined, the distribution utilities serve around 900,000 customers.