Meralco eyes P100B in loans for projects

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is set to borrow about P100 billion this year from local banks to partly fund two power projects.

Meralco president Oscar S. Reyes told reporters that the company, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, will get project financing for the 500- megawatt San Buenaventura coal power plant in Quezon province and the 600-MW coal plant of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy) in Subic.

“I think it will be short of P100 billion,” Reyes said.

Financing for San Buenaventura alone is about P40 billion, said Meralco CFO Betty Siy-Yap.

The deal with the banks will likely be closed in the third quarter, Reyes said.

The San Buenaventura project is all set to proceed as regulators approved the developer’s proposed supply deal with Meralco.

The development cost for the power plant is P49.5 billion.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved the power sales agreement between San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. and Meralco for the supply of 455MW of net capacity over 20 years.

Officials said earlier that the project is up for development starting the second half of 2014.

Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), a subsidiary of Meralco, is developing SBPL via a joint venture with New Growth B.V., a 98-percent owned subsidiary of Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co. or Egco, forged in August 2013.

MGen has a 51-percent stake in the project and the rest is held by Egco through New Growth.

The new 460-MW facility is in the same site as the existing 460-MW coal plant owned by Quezon Power Philippines Ltd., which is majority controlled by Egco. The new plant is set to be completed around 2018.

The RP Energy project is up for development following the Supreme Court (SC) decision denying an environmental case against the project. RP Energy is seen to cost “north of $1 billion,” Reyes has said. Riza T. Olchondra