PetroEnergy vows to finish all power projects

By Lenie Lectura – December 11, 2020
from Business Mirror

As some of its power projects have been put on hold due to the pandemic, the Yuchengco-led listed firm PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PetroEnergy) said Monday it would pursue to complete all of its projects in the pipeline to boost its power portfolio to 400megawatts (MW) by 2023 or 2024.

During a virtual forum, PetroEnergy president Milagros Reyes said the pandemic has pushed back expansion programs to 12 months.

These include the 20MW Puerto Princesa solar hybrid power project and the San Vicente wind hybrid power project. “What we were not able to remedy was the big slow down in almost all aspects of development work from government permitting to site acquisition. This has pushed our expansion program to 12 months,” she said.

Still, the company is optimistic that expansion plans would soon be implemented. “And into the future, we will continue to work according to our model of one solid step at a time as we have taken to building at least one power plant each year since 2014, until we attain our goal of 400 MW in 3-4 years’ time, after which we shall take a big step into the Philippine offshore areas,” said Reyes.

PetroEnergy’s renewable energy (RE) projects include the 32MW-Maibarara geothermal power plant, 36MW Nabas wind power project and the 70MW Tarlac solar power plant.

The company also holds 4 petroleum exploration contracts in Africa and 2 in the Philippines.

RE, she said, will play an important role in achieving the country’s energy needs because it is less susceptible to supply chain disruptions and promotes clean environment. Reyes said PetroEnergy will make sure that it does its role in promoting RE to help the country achieve its goal of 35 percent RE in the energy mix by 2030.

“It is time to have a long term focus that will not be easily dislocated nor disrupted by serious challenges—we are pointing in particular at definitive forward-looking government policies, aggressive research and development programs, transformative and resilient partnerships, and the development of the RE support industries.”