Raslag seeks funding for solar farms

MANILA, Philippines — Raslag Corp., the renewable energy platform of the Nepomuceno Group, is tapping banks to fund its two solar power projects in the pipeline.

The company said it would start deploying the proceeds from its recent initial public offering (IPO) to partially fund its next two solar power projects, namely the 35.159-megawatt peak (MWp) Raslag-4 solar power plant and the 60-MWp Raslag-5 solar power plant.

Raslag debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange last June 6 after selling 350 million common shares at P2 apiece which allowed it to raise P700 million.

It said most of the IPO funding would go to Raslag-4 solar plant in Magalang, Pampanga.

To fund the rest of the projects’ cost, Raslag has commenced discussions with banks.

“We are already in talks with our bankers for cost-efficient debt financing for our next solar projects, and we will make the appropriate disclosures once the terms have been firmed up,” Raslag CFO Robert Gerard Nepomuceno said.

Raslag currently has three solar plants with a combined capacity of nearly 42 MWp.

These are the 10.046 MWp Raslag-1 Solar Power Plant and 13.141 MWp Raslag-2 Solar Power Plant, both located in Mexico, Pampanga and with perks under the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) mechanism in 2016.

The third solar plant, the 18.011-MWp Raslag-3 solar power plant, commenced operations just last month.

In the first quarter, Raslag saw higher revenues and net income.

Based on unaudited financial results, the company’s revenues grew 15 percent year-on-year to P78.9 million on the back of better energy sales.

Meanwhile, net income rose two percent to P26.1 million. But excluding one-off items and IPO-related expenses, net income would have been 51 percent higher year-on-year, the company said.

“Raslag continues to perform very well on the strength of its operating FIT-eligible solar plants, and we expect revenues to grow significantly after our 18 MWp Raslag-3 solar plant begins full commercial operations,” Raslag chairman and president Peter Nepomuceno said.

In 10 years, Raslag aims to increase its generation capacity by more than 10 times to 250 MWp.

The company is scouting for properties outside Pampanga, where its solar projects are located.

Starting with Bataan, the company is negotiating to purchase a 30-hectare property in municipality of Hermosa.

Apart from solar, Raslag is also looking into battery energy storage systems (BESS) and wind.

The Nepomuceno family is a key player in the Pampanga’s electric power industry, starting with power distribution through the Angeles Electric Corp. in 1923 and power generation through Angeles Power Inc. in 1993.