Nickel Asia invests P3 billion in RE unit

MANILA, Philippines — Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) is investing P2.92 billion in its renewable energy subsidiary to support its operations and investments.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, NAC said the additional investment in Emerging Power Inc. (EPI) will be made through a subscription to additional common shares.

With the additional investment, the NAC’s equity ownership in EPI will increase to 95.8 percent.

The investment will be utilized primarily for EPI’s operations, as well as operating expenses of EPI affiliate Biliran Geothermal Inc. and subsidiary Mindoro Geothermal Power Corp.

It is also intended to be used for EPI’s investments in the projects of its other subsidiaries and investments in Greenlight Renewables Holdings Inc., a joint venture with Shell Overseas Investments B.V.

EPI entered into a joint venture agreement with Shell for the establishment of a platform to develop, own, operate, and maintain utility-scale onshore solar and wind power generations projects, as well as battery energy storage systems in the Philippines.

Greenlight Renewables, which is 60 percent owned by EPI and 40 percent by Shell, aims to have an aggregate operating capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) by 2028.

EPI last September also started the development and construction of an additional 68 MW in the Subic site, which is set to go online by the fourth quarter.