NAC increases investment in renewable energy unit

BY LENIE LECTURA – JANUARY 17, 2023
from Business Mirror

Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) is pouring nearly P3 billion into its renewable energy (RE) subsidiary, Emerging Power Inc. (EPI).

The company told the stock exchange on Monday that its board of directors approved NAC’s additional investment of P2.92 billion in EPI through a subscription to the latter’s additional common shares.

“EPI shall utilize the additional investment for the following purposes: EPI’s operations; operating expenses of EPI affiliate, Biliran Geothermal Incorporated; operating expenses of EPI subsidiary, Mindoro Geothermal Power Corporation; EPI’s investments in the projects of its other subsidiaries; and EPI’s investments in Greenlight Renewables Holdings, Inc.,” NAC said.

With this additional investment, NAC’s equity ownership in EPI will increase to 95.8 percent.

Greenlight Renewables Holdings is EPI’s joint venture with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. They will jointly develop, own, operate, and maintain onshore RE projects in the Philippines. They will also put up an investment company in the Philippines in which EPI and Shell shall have equity ownership of 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

The target is to put up one gigawatt (GW) of RE capacity by 2028 with ambitions to contribute up to three GW into the country’s renewable capacity by initially rolling out a series of projects in Luzon and Visayas.

The focus will be on utility scale solar photovoltaic while evaluating opportunities in onshore wind and energy storage systems.

“The joint venture has the full support of EPI’s parent company, NAC. This partnership would allow both companies to boost the supply of renewable energy in the Philippines,” NAC President and CEO Martin Antonio G. Zamora earlier said.