Alternergy secures P5.3-b RCBC loan for Alabat wind farm
By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 13, 2024, 8:25 pm
from manilastandard.net
Alternergy Holdings Corp. (Alternergy) said Thursday its unit Alabat Wind Power Corp. (AWPC) secured a P5.3-billion financing to partially fund the construction of its 64-megawatt Alabat wind power project in Quezon province.
AWPC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alternergy Wind Holdings Corp. (AWHC).
Alternergy said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) its unit secured the funding from Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), with RCBC Capital Corp. as the mandated lead arranger for the transaction.
Puyat Jacinto Santos Law acted as the lender’s counsel and Tantoco Villanueva & De Guzman Law served as the borrower’s counsel.
“We are very pleased to finally sign the loan agreement for the project finance facility for our Alabat Wind Power Project after a very thorough due diligence period against a very tight timeline. RCBC’s continued support speaks of the growing partnership between Alternergy and RCBC. We are grateful to RCBC for the trust and confidence in Alternergy’s ability to undertake RE projects over the last decade,” Alternergy president Gerry Magbanua said.
Magbanua said the loan is the largest financing facility extended by RCBC to the Alternergy Group since 2014.
RCBC also funded Alternergy’s 12.5-MW peak Kirahon solar power project in Misamis Oriental, the first solar PPA approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Solar Pacific CitySun multi-site solar rooftop projects on top of CityMalls, the first such multi-site solar rooftop financing in the country.
RCBC subsidiary RCBC Trust Corp. also supported Alternergy’s first solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage system project in Palau as accounts trustee.
Alternergy chief financial officer and chief sustainability officer Maria Carmen Diaz said the company closed P 18.4 billion of its P21-billion capital raising program.
“This project financing forms part of Alternergy’s capital raising activities under the Green Finance Framework which is also aligned with RCBC’s commitment to sustainable investments,” Diaz said, adding that more financial closings are forthcoming as part of Alternergy’s accelerated roll-out of its project portfolio to 500 MW by 2026.
“This is yet another testament of the long-term partnership between Alternergy and RCBC which started a decade ago. RCBC has supported renewable energy projects, creating innovative financing solutions even back then. We are proud to have supported Alternergy over the years and look forward to a continuing journey with them in line with our commitment to a sustainable future.” RCBC executive vice president and corporate banking group head Elizabeth Coronel said.
Alternergy said ground mobilization for the Alabat wind project is ongoing following the groundbreaking in early May.
Envision Energy will supply the wind turbines, while China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd (GEDI) will construct the project.
Danish technical consulting firm K2 Management is the project’s owner’s engineer that will support Alternergy to ensure successful and timely construction of the project.
The project is one of the winning bidders under the Green Energy Auction 2 Program of the Department of Energy (DOE) that is expected to generate capacity by end-2025 to help boost the country’s power supply.
