Alsons Power finalizing contract for 105-MW plant

MANILA, Philippines – Alsons Power Group is finalizing the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its 105-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City, which will augment the company’s revenues and Mindanao’s supply by 2020.

Several EPC contractors have manifested their interest in building the 105-MW San Ramon Power Inc. (SRPI) coal-fired plant, Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) chairman and president Tomas Alcantara said in an interview last week.

“There are several EPC groups that manifested interest here. There is a Chinese and another Korean but we are not prepared to disclose,” Alcantara said.

To finally start the construction of the plant, Alsons Power Group is closing the power supply agreement (PSA) contracts with off-takers.

“That is another 105 MW, we are just perfecting the PSA contracts that we have. As far as rates are concerned we already have an ERC approval. We are just working on the principal cooperative that would be the principal off-taker for the plant,” Alcantara said.

The company is targeting to complete the construction works and start operating SRPI by 2020.

Previously, Alsons Power has worked with Daelim Industrial, Ltd. of Korea and Japanese company JGC Corp. for Sections 1 and 2 of the 2x105-MW coal plant under Sarangani Energy Corp.

Section 1 of SEC was completed and started operating in April 2016 while Section 2 is targeted for completion in 2019.

Once the new power plants are completed, Alsons expects a surge in income and revenues for the power business.

Alcantara said the power business has a total capacity of around 258 MW, which would increase to 573 MW by 2020. “We are hoping that the completion of our power project will be able to generate at least three times the current earnings of ACR,” he said.

In 2015, ACR booked a net income of P691 million, of which 90 percent is contributed by the power business.

Last year, the company booked a consolidated net income of P238 million in the nine months ending September, a 65-percent decline from the same period last year, due to higher expenses for the period as a result mainly due to pass-on fuel costs and higher finance charges.