Vivant to acquire partner’s stake in off-grid ventures

Garcia-led Vivant Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly listed Vivant Corporation, has announced plans to acquire the shareholdings of its partner Gigawatt Power Inc. in corporate units that provide electricity in off-grid areas.

As emphasized, Gigawatt Power Inc. has 50-percent equity in Delta P Inc., Calamian Islands Power Corporation (CIPC), La Pampanga Energy Corporation (LPEC) and Culna Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC) as well as 35-percent stake in Isla Norte Power Corporation (Isla Norte). These are the project-companies involved in the off-grid ventures that have tie up with the Garcia group.

No purchase cost as well as timeline of negotiations and deal closing had been provided by the company yet as of press time.

Once the acquisition is firmed up, Vivant Energy noted that its generation portfolio across the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) manned by state-run National Power Corporation will increase to 63.3 megawatts, a significant expansion from currently at 35.2MW of attributable installed capacity.

Vivant Energy President and COO Emil Andre M. Garcia stressed “this investment is aligned with our goal to strengthen our contribution to energy security,” adding that “we will continue to look for opportunities to support sustainable development, especially in off-grid areas and communities where having reliable and stable power is crucial to social and economic development.”

Vivant Energy CEO Arlo A.G. Sarmiento said, “One of our goals is to be the market leader in SPUG. But, over and above achieving that goal, this acquisition ties in with our environment, social and governance (ESG) commitments,” with him specifying that this is primarily anchored on the fact that “underserved or off-grid areas such as Coron, Bantayan, and Puerto Princesa, need stable and reliable power to drive local business growth.”

He expounded “we see ourselves as a strategic sustainability partner fueling our host communities’ social and economic development especially in areas like tourism, education, and eventually, being instrumental in opening the door of opportunities for more industries.”

Garcia similarly sounded off confidence that “the current team will continue to strengthen the group’s commitment to excellence and quality service to the community.”

As fleshed out, Delta P owns 31.1-MW bunker-fired power plant in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; then CIPC has 7.35-MW bunker-fired power facility in Coron and another 0.91-MW diesel power plant in Busuanga.

For Isla Norte, it is operating a 23.3-MW diesel power plant in Bantayan Island, Cebu; while LPEC is pursuing the development of a 16.4-MW power generating asset in Porac, Pampanga.

Additionally, CREC has been targeting to develop a hybrid power plant that will amalgamate technologies spanning solar, battery and diesel – and that is set for deployment in the islands of Culion and Linapacan in Palawan.

Vivant Energy currently has business presence in power generation across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids; while also actively cornering customers exercising their ‘power of choice’ in the retail electricity market space via its subsidiary Corenergy.