Japanese firm wants increased participation in Alsons’ projects
TOYOTA Tsusho Corp. of Japan is keen on increasing its equity in the projects of its partner, Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR), according to top officials of the local firm.
ACR chair and president Tomas I. Alcantara said on the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting that Toyota Tsusho wanted to raise its stake in future projects to about 35 percent.
“They are interested in increasing their share and they want it soon,” Alcantara said, noting that demand for electricity was rising especially in ACR’s home region, Mindanao.
CFO Luis R. Ymson Jr. said that, at the moment, Toyota Tsusho had 25-percent equity in existing projects of ACR, including the first 105-MW generating unit of the 210-MW Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani.
ACR is set to spend more than $750 million for three power projects in Mindanao this year.
Alcantara said the company’s projects for the year were the second 105-MW generating unit of the SEC coal-fired power plant; the 15-MW Siguil River run-of-river hydroelectric plant also in Maasim, Sarangani, and the 105-MW San Ramon Power, Inc. baseload coal-fired power plant in Talisayan, Zamboanga City.
For coal power plants, the benchmark cost is about $300 million to $350 million per 105MW at today’s cost. ACR may spend about $700 million for the second unit of the Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province as well as the 105-MW San Ramon Power, Inc. baseload coal-fired power plant in Talisayan, Zamboanga City.
The second energy generating unit of that facility will break ground in the third quarter and is expected to begin operating in 2018, Alcantara said.
