Alsons pledges $650M investments in RE

Mindanao-focused Alsons Consolidated Resources (ACR) is going all out in its renewable energy (RE) power development program with about $650 million investments in hydro and solar power stations lined up in the next five years.

The group’s updated RE investment program, equivalent to about P30.92 billion, is much higher than the initial estimate of P2 billion that officials mentioned early last year when they were just beginning to look into their prospects.

Joseph Nocos, VP for business development at Alsons Power Group (ACR’s energy arm), told reporters the company was allocating about $600 million for hydropower, including the $45-million Siguil hydropower project in Sarangani province. Another $45 million to $50 million would be earmarked for solar power projects, which would most likely be located in sunny General Santos City, where ACR has large landholdings, Nocos said.

“We would definitely still be focused on Mindanao in the next few years,” Nocos said, adding the company was keen on building its RE capacity—presently dominated by coal power—to diversify its power portfolio for added output security.

Nocos said the group wanted its RE investments to keep pace with its fossil fuel portfolio in the next ten years.

He said the Alsons Power Group was also studying the gas power industry to see if developments were available for exploration.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier awarded Alsons the contract to build the 8.7-megawatts (MW) Siguil 1, 3.2-MW Siguil 2 and 4.8-MW Siguil 3 hydropower projects in Maasim, Sarangani.

The Alsons Power Group also has service contracts that would allow it to build a combined RE capacity of 94 megawatts spread out across four different sites.