Ayala, Aboitiz groups OK financing deal for $1.7-B Bataan power plant project

The Ayala and Aboitiz groups yesterday said they had reached financial closing for their joint venture, the second generator of the $1.7-billion GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.’s (GNPD) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Bataan.

Project officials earlier said they were intending to borrow up to $1 billion to fund the construction of the first unit, which started last January.

“The estimated project cost of the GNPD project is $1.7 billion, with the debt component to be provided by Philippine banks,” the parent firms said in their disclosures.

Supercritical power plants are among coal-fired facilities that use “high efficiency, low emission” technologies, which means they harness more heat out of coal compared to conventional coal-fired plants.

“The GNPD project will support the increasing electricity demand of Luzon and Visayas. Construction of the first unit is scheduled for completion by 2019, with the second unit scheduled for completion by 2020,” they added.

Both the Ayala group’s AC Energy Holdings Inc. and Therma Power Inc.—a unit of Aboitiz Power Corp.—say they have a 50-percent economic stake in GNPD, but they have a third partner, Nauru-based Power Partners Ltd. Co.

GNPD signed on Dec. 5 the amended engineering, design, procurement, and construction contracts with Shanghai Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd. and Power Construction Corp. of China Ltd.

GNPD Unit 2 would bring the company’s attributable capacity to over 1,600 MW.

The financial closing brought AC Energy closer to attaining its 2020 goal of reaching 2,000 MW attributable capacity of power plants that are operational or under construction.

“GNPD’s contribution also addresses supply requirements in the 2020s, amidst medium term supply uncertainties in the power sector,” said AC Energy president and chief Eric T. Francia said.