Ayala expects energy unit to post profit

THE AYALA group’s burgeoning power generation business is seen to post its first full year of profitability this year, having unlocked a stable revenue stream from the 700 megawatts (MW) of attributable power assets built since debuting in this vital industry in 2011.

In an interview with Inquirer, Ayala Corp. managing director and head of Ayala’s energy and infrastructure group John Eric Francia said the conglomerate was on track with its target to build 1,000 MW of attributable power generation assets by 2016.

The portfolio, a mix of renewable and traditional sources of energy, is handled by Ayala’s energy unit, AC Energy Holdings Inc.

“First year of net income, hopefully, (will happen) this year. We’ve already seen first-half results. We expect that to remain positive,” Francia said.

As its power generating assets came online, AC Energy registered a net income of P198 million in the first semester, driven by the earnings of two wind farms in Ilocos Norte and coal plants in Batangas and Bataan.

Proceeds from AC Energy’s sale of its 26 percent interest in the 81-MW Pagudpud wind farm owned and operated by North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. (NLREC) to long-time Japanese partner Mitsubishi Corp. were also seen to contribute to this year’s earnings.

“The partial sale will be reflected in the third quarter results and hopefully, we’ll build from that,” Francia said.

The NLREC deal reduced AC Energy’s interest to 36 percent from 62 percent. Nonetheless, the Ayala unit remained the single largest stockholder of the wind farm project, which is already collecting feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentives from the government via guaranteed rates for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy produced.