Ayala set to invest P80b in power plants

by Alena Mae S. Flores – October 19, 2016 at 11:30 pm

from Manila Standard Today

AC Energy Holdings Inc., the energy arm of Ayala Corp., committed to invest close to P80 billion to bring its capacity to 2,000 megawatts in the next five years.

AC Energy president John Eric Francia told reporters the company was previously looking at investments of P40 billion, but decided to increase it by “close to double” by 2020 due to the additional target capacity.

The company, which is expected to reach its 1,000-MW attributable capacity target this year, posted a net income of P2.1 billion in 2015.

Francia said the company targeted a net income of P5 billion by 2020.

He said 60 percent or the bulk of the additional 1,000-MW capacity in the next five years would come from renewable energy investments.

“The renewable energy revolution is upon us and we are gearing up the organization for this new reality. We will also harness synergies across the Ayala group to achieve this goal” said Francia.

“We expect renewable energy to be more competitive over the next five years, and this will be good from a sustainability, diversification and resiliency standpoint,” he said.

Francia said among the company’s strategic priorities in terms of getting to that milestone of 2,000 MW involved “making sure that all our operating plants get to the high efficiency levels and we’re happy to note that we are getting there.”

He said the company’s existing power assets had potential for expansion by about 500 MW but AC Energy was also looking at overseas opportunities such as Indonesia.

“We hope in the next few months, we will be breaking ground our first project in Indonesia. It’s less than 100 MW wind [project],” Francia said.

He said the planned Indonesia investment would be a “three way partnership” with AC Energy taking around 75-percent stake.

Francia said the company would also seek acquisitions and develop greenfield projects, both in the Philippines and select Southeast Asian markets including Vietnam and Myanmar.

“We will look at on opportunistic basis, Vietnam and Myanmar…but not an immediate priority,” he said.

The company will also be an active participant in retail electricity sector, having secured its retail electricity supplier license in September.

“With 1,000 MW in attributable capacity, AC Energy is emerging to be a major contributor to the country’s energy resource.  Furthermore, it has started to contribute positively to our bottomline and we expect it to be a significant component of Ayala’s portfolio in the coming years,” said Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala.

The company now owns a portion of seven coal, wind and solar assets five years since it entered the market in 2011.

These assets include the 604-MW GNPower Mariveles and 668-MW GNPower Dinginin in Bataan; 2440-MW South Luzon Thermal Energy in Batangas; 552-MW GNPower Kausawagan in Lanao del Norte; 81-MW North Luzon Renewables and 52-MW NorthWind Power in Ilocos Norte; and 18-MW Montesol in Bais, Negros Oriental.

Five of the plants are operational, which collectively deliver about 1,000 MW of power to the grid. The two plants under construction―GNPower Kauswagan and GNPower Dinginin will add another 1,200 MW to the grid in 2018  or 2019.

AC Energy’s attributable capacity is broken down as follows: GNPower Mariveles, 121 MW; South Luzon Thermal Corp.,, 122 MW; North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp., 29 MW; NorthWind Power Development Corp., 26 MW; Monte Solar Energy Inc., 14 MW; GN Power Kausawan, 442 MW and GN Power Dinginin, 334 MW.