Foreign firms invest in $185-M geothermal project in Mindoro

Foreign financing companies are investing in the $185-million geothermal facility of local renewable energy firm Emerging Power Inc. (EPI) in Oriental Mindoro.

Thirty percent of the total investment would be direct equity and 70 percent debt financing sourced from Philippine banks.

EPI chairperson Martin Antonio G. Zamora said Mekong Brahmaputra Clean Development Fund (MBCDF), under management of the Dragon Capital Group, and the Netherlands Development Finance Co. (FMO) are investing around 15 percent in equity into EPI’s 40-megawatt (MW) power facility.

FMO is an entrepreneurial development bank of the Netherlands. The bank invests risk capital in companies in developing countries. With a committed investment portfolio of 6.6 billion euros in 2013, FMO is among the largest public-private development banks worldwide.

Mekong Brahmaputra Clean Development Fund is a limited partnership established in Guernsey focused on the development and deployment of Clean Technology to promote economic growth in Asia.

It is managed by Dragon Capital Clean Development Ltd., a subsidiary of the Dragon Capital Group, an integrated investment group centered in Vietnam with over $1.4 billion of assets under management.

Zamora said EPI was set to start drilling works for its geothermal project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, next month. Zamora also said that EPI has tapped the expertise of the Geo-Survey Institute of Iceland and the Institut Teknologi Bandung of Indonesia for the project.

The project is seen to help stabilize power supply in Mindoro, bring down electricity costs; and uplift the economic conditions of consumers without harming the ecological balance in the island-province.

“The geothermal project is expected to result in as much as P2.1 billion in savings (or by 40 percent from P11 per kilowatt-hour to P6.58 per kWh) in electricity bills the people of Mindoro will pay in four years’ time,” Zamora said.

Dragon Capital director Joseph Hoess said MBCDF was keen on its first investment in the Philippines. The MBCDF engages in clean development investments that meet the “Triple Bottom Line” principles of “People, Planet, and Profit.”

“These are sustainability values that demand a specific, measurable criteria for every investment’s positive impact on the environment and society as a whole,” he said.

House Energy Committee Chair and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali welcomed EPI’s project, saying, “We are happy that Dragon Capital and FMO share our vision of bringing in progress and development without disturbing the ecological balance that this virgin-forested island is known for.”

The country’s growing power needs should be met, citing the potential 300MW power shortfall in 2015.