Power firm Team Energy eyes 10 renewable energy ventures

Team Energy, a partnership between Japanese firms Marubeni Corp. and Tokyo Electric and Power Co., is keen on pursuing at least 10 renewable energy projects that will use geothermal, biomass and hydro resources.

Team Energy president and CEO Federico Puno said the company was looking at developing six hydropower projects, namely, the Lueco mini hydro in San Juan, La Union; Philex Tailings Pond and the Asin hydropower projects in Tuba, Benguet; the Kalinga mini hydro in Tabuk, Kalinga; Hydrotec power projects in various sites in Luzon and Visayas, and the Talubin and Caneo mini hydropower project in Mountain Province.

These hydropower projects—which are now in varying stages of evaluation, negotiation, exploration and development—are expected to generate between 1 and 6 megawatts.

For biomass projects, Team Energy is looking at forming partnerships with other local developers for projects in San Ildefonso, Bulacan and Unisan, Quezon.

Documents showed the holder of the renewable energy service contract for the biomass project in Quezon was Unisan Biomass Corp., which was earlier reported to be planning to put up an 11.2-MW biomass facility in Quezon province. Power produced from the power plant, which was estimated to cost $36 million, would go to Quezon Electric Cooperative (Quezelco).

Also, two geothermal projects are being considered by Team Energy in Natib, Bataan and Daclan, Benguet. The service contract holder for these two projects are Clean Rock Renewable Energy Resources Corp., which estimated the Bataan project to generate 40 MW and the Benguet geothermal project, 60 MW.

Team Energy was earlier eyeing two solar facilities in Bulacan and Batangas, which would be able to produce 10 MW each. However, these two projects were not mentioned in the renewable energy projects update of the company.

He said the company planned to start the construction of these facilities as soon as their respective feasibility studies were completed.

Puno also disclosed earlier that the company, once the viability of these projects were proven, was “bent to proceed” with the projects with or without feed-in-tariff rates, which will determine the financial viability of renewable energy projects in the country.

Under the feed-in tariff system, renewable energy developers are assured of future cash flows, as electricity end-users will be charged fixed amounts to cover the production of energy from renewable sources. With this in place, utilities can spread the cost of clean power among its customers.

Team Energy is currently one of the largest independent power producers in the Philippines, with more than 2,000 MW of installed generating capacity. It owns and operates the 1,200-MW Sual and 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired power plants in Pangasinan and Quezon, respectively. It also owns a 20-percent stake in the 1,200-MW natural gas-fired Ilijan plant in Batangas.