MRC Allied seals Sepalco purchase

MANILA, Philippines — MRC Allied Inc. sealed its acquisition of a 15 percent stake in Sulu Electric Power and Light Philippines Inc. (Sepalco).

The move is in line with its “buy and build” strategy to become a major renewable energy player in the country.

MRC president Gladys Nalda said Sepalco still had room to expand its capacity to 100 MW.

“As we officially join Sepalco today, we hope to make a significant contribution to the project and be actively involved in the management thereof. Our goal here is to increase its operational efficiency, improve its financial position and explore possibility of expansion. Based on our initial evaluation, we can still maximize operations by increasing capacity up to 100 MW,” Nalda said.

As an investor in Sepalco, MRC aims to help the power company become more efficient so it may eventually expand its capacity.

Nalda said the acquisition of a stake in Sepalco moves it a step closer toward its goal of building a portfolio of 1,000 MW of clean and renewable energy.

“More importantly, this will bring us closer to our target of 1,000 MW of clean energy by 2022. So as we move toward fully achieving our goal, we acknowledge the hard work and contribution not just of the people within our organization, but also the support of those around us - our investors, our partners, our stakeholders, our LGUs,” Nalda said.

Sepalco is touted as the biggest solar project in Region 8 and has been operating since 2016. It will complete MRC’s  200 MW target for 2017.

The power plant lies on a 70-hectare property in Palo and has a total of 188 solar panels and is connected to the existing 69-kilovolt transmission line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in the province.

The Sepalco project is on top of MRC’s 100 MW solar project in Pampanga and 60 MW solar project in Cebu, both of which are in the advance stages of pre-development.