$1.7-B power facilities in Visayas, Luzon readied

Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) is investing $1.7 billion in power projects in Luzon and Visayas, said officials of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the parent firm of GBPC’s majority shareholder Beacon Electric Asset Holdings Inc.

“There are three areas of expansion for this business from (GBPC). The biggest one (the 670-MW coal-fired power plant) is underpinned by a 600-MW contract from Meralco,” MPIC CFO David J. Nicol said. Panay Energy and Global Luzon Energy recently signed separate power supply deals with Meralco.

Nicol said the other major power projects via GBPC were the 40-MW biomass project (with sugar farm agricultural products as feedstock) in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, and a 140-MW pumped water project (for supplying peak power demand) in Toledo City, Cebu.

“If we’re looking at the gross cost, it’s $1.4 billion roughly for the supercritical plant, it’s $206 million for the pumped storage project and $100 million to $110 million for the biomass project,” Nicol said. He said funding for the projects would be done through a mix of cash flow and equity, he said.

MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said the conglomerate expected more income contribution from Beacon’s power business, which the conglomerate is tapping through the controlling stake in generation company GBPC and distribution utility Meralco. Power generation and distribution combined should contribute about 55 percent of profit this year and the rest would likely come from the toll roads and the water businesses.

GBPC has about 852 MW of capacity in coal- and diesel-fired power plants. Its power facilities include Panay Energy Development Corp.’s (a unit of GBPC) 150-MW coal-fed facility in La Paz, Iloilo, which is set to become operational within 2016, and the 670-MW coal-fired power plant expansion of Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. (another unit of GBPC) in Luna, La Union, which is scheduled to become operational by 2022.

Meanwhile, MPIC chair Manuel V. Pangilinan recently said MPIC was keen on expanding GBPC’s presence in the Visayas and even the Mindanao power sector.

Lim said Beacon has changed from a mere holding company for MPIC’s Meralco shares into a “growth partner” of the Pangilinan-led conglomerate with the recent acquisition of a controlling 56-percent interest in GT Capital Holdings Inc.’s unit GBPC. Beacon also has a 35-percent stake in Meralco.