GT Capital investing P20B in 2 power plants in Visayas

Newly listed GT Capital Holdings, through its power generation unit, will invest P20 billion in two new power plants in the Visayas with combined capacity of 164 megawatts.

GT Capital president Carmelo Bautista said agreements had been signed to put up two new power plants, one of which will be an expansion of the existing power generation facility in Toledo, Cebu. Another plant will be put up in Iloilo, he said in an interview after GT Capital’s annual stockholders meeting on Wednesday.

The power plants will each have an installed capacity of 82MW and are estimated to cost P10 billion each, Bautista said. The plants will be on stream within the next three years.

The power generation units of GT Capital, the holding firm of the family of taipan George Ty, are under Global Business Power Corp.

Bautista said the agreements signed for the additional power projects in the Visayas were meant to “capitalize on projected demand growth in the Visayas and across the Philippines.”

GBPC signed in May an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Formosa Heavy Industries for the construction of the  82-MW coal-fired power plant  in Toledo. It also signed recently an electric power purchase agreement with Carmen Copper for the off-take of up to 70 percent of the new power plant’s output.

Established in 2002, GBP is now one of the largest independent power producers in the Visayas. It currently owns nine power plants in Visayas and Mindanao with a combined dependable capacity of 627 MW. Of the group’s total capacity, 410 MW came on stream only in 2011.