Alsons to add power capacity

Holding firm Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. plans to build 600 megawatts in additional coal-fired power generating capacity in Mindanao within the next five years.

In an interview on Friday at the sidelines of a mining forum, ACR chief finance officer Luis Ymson Jr. said that the first phase of the project, involving a coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani, would soon begin.

Alsons still has to choose a partner with which to undertake the $280-million project.

The company is considering between Japan’s Toyota Tsusho and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Pcl (EGCO), Ymson said.

“If we start this year, we’ll be operational by 2014,” he said.

The company hopes to seal the power deal with the strategic investor by end-April, Ymson said. ACR will get a 75-percent stake in the project while the foreign partner will acquire the remaining 25 percent.

Of the $280-million power plant cost for the first phase of the Sarangani project, Ymson said 30 percent would be funded by equity and the remainder would be funded using debt.

“It’s likely that whoever will be our partner in Sarangani will be our partner in the succeeding projects,” Ymson said.

ACR is also building a 100-MW coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga, which will replace an existing 100-MW diesel plant. The old plant will be kept as backup to cover any spike in demand during peak hours, Ymson said.

After putting up the combined 300 MW in additional capacity in Sarangani and Zamboanga City, Ymson said the group’s capacity would be doubled with the planned 300-MW coal-fired power plant to be put up near the Tampakan mining site in South Cotabato.

ACR has a 19-percent interest in Australian mining firm Indophil Resources NL which, in turn, owns 37.8 percent of Tampakan operator Sagittarius Mines.

It takes about three years to build a new power plant from scratch, Ymson explained.

Apart from the 100-MW diesel-plant in Zamboanga, ACR has another 55 MW diesel-fired plant in General Santos. It is also buying back a 100-MW power plant foreclosed by the local government of Iligan City from the National Power Corp.

ACR is also developing renewable energy projects, but Ymson said the company’s immediate priorities were the coal-fired power plants.

Currently under development are the Siguil 17-MW hydropower project, also in Maasim, and another 40 MW plant in Negros Oriental.