Aboitiz Group seeks to retain Big 3 status in power sector

MANILA, Philippines - The Aboitiz Group seeks to retain its position as one of the country’s Big Three power players in the coming years by remaining aggressive in the hunt for state-owned facilities and supply contracts that are yet to be privatized.

In an interview, Aboitiz Power Corp. chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz said the company is keen on joining all government auctions in the power sector.

 “We would look at all the power assets. We tend to look at all the power deals and try to understand it and decide if we want to participate,” Aboitiz said.

He cited two specific government supply contracts which the company currently has its sights set on.

 “So we have the Unified Leyte bulk energy. We are now studying the Mt. Apo IPPA (independent power producer administrator). I think part of the schedule of PSALM is to do the Steag IPPA so we would look at that also,” Aboitiz said.

AboitizPower in February this year has been awarded by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) 40 megwatts of the Unified Leyte geothermal power plants’ output.

The IPPA contract for the Mt. Apo 1 and 2 geothermal power plants in North Cotabato are currently being put up for bidding to the private sector as well.

Auction for the IPPA of the 210-MW Steag State Power Inc coal plant in Misamis Oriental, meanwhile, has yet to be scheduled.

AboitizPower has earmarked a capital expenditure budget of P80 billion to increase its power generation capacity by 2,000 MW in the next five years.

The Aboitiz group is one of the biggest power players in the country, along with San Miguel Corp. and the Lopez family.

The power company is also currently one of the largest renewable energy producers in the Philippines  with several hydroelectric and geothermal assets in its generation portfolio producing about 1,200 MW of renewable energy.

The group earlier said it is also looking at adding solar power to further boost its renewable energy portfolio in the country.