Global Business Power plans to hike investments in power

MANILA, Philippines - Global Business Power Corp., the power generation unit of taipan George S.K. Ty of the Metrobank group, is planning to increase its investments in power generation in the Visayas by about $500 million.

Alfred Ty, one of the scions of the Ty family, said this investment will support the anticipated growth in the region’s energy requirements. “The need for power in the Visayas region will continue to grow, especially with the expected uptrend in the economy,” Ty said.

“Additional generating capacity must be made available to sustain this growth,” he added.

The Ty family said they are looking at adding two 82-MW plants in Toledo City in Cebu and another 82-MW plant in La Paz, Iloilo City.

The projects, which would add 246 MW to the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid, are estimated to cost a total of $492 million and are targeted to be completed by year 2014.

“We are now reviewing the various aspects of these investments, including market demand, timing, and project financing,” he said.

The plan to increase its energy business, he said, comes as the family’s existing power projects are now fully online.

GBPC has just completed its three-boiler 246-MW clean coal power plant in Toledo City through Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC), a consortium among Ty’s GBPC, Aboitiz Power Corp., Vivant Energy Corp., and Formosa Heavy Industries Corp. of Taiwan.

The family also has investments in Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), which is also on-track with its 164-MW power plant in Iloilo City.

PEDC’s two 82-MW power units will both be online with the CNP grid within the first quarter of 2011.

Once these projects are fully completed, the group will be delivering a total of 410 MW new, additional capacity to the CNP grid by the first quarter of 2011.

The group will then have a projected total installed capacity of 633MW.

“Based on our study, with the coming in of our three units in CEDC and some units from other suppliers, the supply in the CNP Grid will be secured until 2013,” Ty said.

He warned, however, that there will be a shortage of 50 MW beginning 2014, and up to 130 MW by 2015.

“The shortage will continue to increase until new capacity is added into the grid,” he added.

Ty’s Metrobank Group has investments in five power companies in the region. Apart from CEDC and PEDC, it also has ownership in GBH Power Resources, Inc., Toledo Power Company (TPC), and Panay Power Corp.

TPC has power plants in Sangi and Carmen in Toledo City, Cebu consisting of two coal-fired generators with an aggregate installed capacity of 66.25 megawatts and four units of diesel generator sets with a total installed capacity of 45.8 MW.

In Panay, GBCP also has existing diesel power plants with a combined capacity of 109.5 MW.