3 new Aboitiz Power plants coming on stream next year
By Myrna M. Velasco – November 1, 2016, 10:01 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Aboitiz Power Corporation will further build up its power generation portfolio next year with three greenfield power plants coming on stream that will then add roughly 600 megawatts to its attributable capacity.
According to Aboitiz Power-Oil Business Unit President and Chief Operating Officer Danel C. Aboitiz, the plants up for commercial commissioning next year would be the 68.8-MW Manolo Fortich hydropower facility; the 340MW Therma Visayas coal-fired power plant in Toledo, Cebu; and the 400MW expansion of the Pagbilao coal-fired plant in Quezon province.
For the Pagbilao facility, the company’s attributable capacity will be 50-percent or 200 megawatts – as referenced on their equity take in the project. Partner in that venture is TeaM Energy Philippines, a joint venture of Japanese firms Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Marubeni Corporation.
What motivates the company at this point, Aboitiz said is clinching their 4,000 megawatts capacity in the next four years – that could be brought in by capacities from ‘new builds’ and acquisitions. The company is now ranked second among the country’s biggest and deep-pocketed power industry players.
“We are on target to achieve our 4,000Mw by 2020,” he said, emphasizing that their attributable capacity at present now hovers at 2,577 megawatts, minus yet some acquisitions that are pending approval – in particular, the GNPower assets.
With next year’s capacity summation, the company’s portfolio will already be at close to 3,200 megawatts including the 8.8-MW Aseagas biomass that is currently undergoing commissioning.
Top line and profitability impacts of the anticipated sizeable capacity additions will be substantially felt around 2018 yet, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Chief Finance Officer Manuel Lozano said.
Beyond beefed up domestic capacity, Aboitiz Power is still not resting easy on expansion plans – with its investment target now focused overseas.
“We are looking at countries for strategic opportunities – Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar…at the moment, what we have in the pipeline for 4,000 megawatts does not include international targets,” Aboitiz said.
He qualified though that there is nothing specific on blueprint yet for Vietnam and Myanmar. For Indonesia, Aboitiz Power is set on having geothermal as take-off point on offshore venture especially if they win the bid on the geothermal assets of American energy giant Chevron Corporation in that jurisdiction.
“We haven’t established the particular numbers yet,” Aboitiz said, when asked on a viable capacity that could merit capital outlay for them in these Southeast Asian markets.
