EDC board approves issuance of P5B bonds in second quarter

By Alena Mae S. Flores – February 09, 2021 at 07:30 pm
from Manila Bulletin

The board of geothermal power producer Energy Development Corp. said Tuesday it approved the issuance of up to P5 billion worth of bonds in the second quarter to finance capital expenditures.

EDC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. its board granted authority to undertake the shelf registration of up to P15 billion, with an initial issuance of P3 billion and an oversubscription option for another P2 billion in fixed-rate bonds, subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We’re targeting second quarter for the initial tranche. We’re looking at issuing a green bond. Use of proceeds will be mainly for capex and general corporate purposes,” EDC chief financial officer Erwin Avante said.

Avante said the P15-billion shelf registration would cover a three-year period and the bulk of the firs tranche would be spent for the 28-megawatt Bacman Binary project with a capex of P6.4 billion.

“We have a growth project that we’re starting this year. It’s the Bacman binary project, approximately 28 MW,” Avante said.

EDC earlier tapped Turboden S.p.A. of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. based in Lombardy, Italy and Mitsubishi Power Ltd. of Japan for the binary cycle power generation equipment to be installed at its Bacman geothermal power plant in Manito, Albay.

Turboden said it would provide a complete power generation system while Mitsubishi Power would provide support through local resources to EDC, the country’s biggest geothermal company.The project is expected to be completed by end-2022.First Balfour secured last month the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Palayan Binary Plant Balance of Plant works package.

The contract covers the installation of equipment necessary to generate energy using the residual brine flow from the existing EDC steam field.