Marubeni allots $700 million for Phl expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Marubeni Corp., one of the biggest trading companies in Japan, is investing more than $700 million to expand its exposure in the Philippine power industry, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said.

He said Marubeni would be pouring in more capital for the expansion of the capacities of its Pagbilao and Sual coal-fired power facilities.

“They are looking at expanding the capacities of Pagbilao and Sual. Talks are ongoing because they are also discussing the possibility of increasing the expansion. They are thinking, if they would expand further the 400-megawatt Pagbilao capacity to 600 MW,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC), Marubeni’s partner in the 400-MW Pagbilao power plant in Quezon, disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it has signed an agreement with Marubeni in Tokyo , Japan to formalize their intention to jointly develop, build and operate another 400-MW coal-fired plant.

APC said the proposed plant is to be located within the premises of the existing 700-MW Pagbilao power plant. Estimated cost of the power plant is between $600 million to $700 million.

Marubeni is part owner of TeaM Energy, which, in turn, owns and operates the Pagbilao plant under a build and operate contract with the National Power Corp. (Napocor)

Therma Luzon Inc. (TLI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of APC, on the other hand, is the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) of the existing Pagbilao power plant. As its IPPA, TLI handles the procurement of the fuel requirement and sale of the energy generated by the plant.

Like the Pagbilao facilities, the new power plant will also run on clean coal generation technology using the circulating fluidized bed system to produce power with considerably less adverse effects to the environment.

“We are very pleased to work with Marubeni at optimizing the capacity of the Pagbilao power station. This is part of our overall goal of providing power solutions that are competitively priced,” APC president and CEO Erramon Aboitiz said.

“We expect to complete the power plant within 2015,” he added.

   APC is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, retail and power services. 

Marubeni Corp. is involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors. These areas encompass importing and exporting, as well as transactions in the Japanese market, related to food materials, food products, textiles, materials, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy, metals and mineral resources, transportation machinery, and offshore trading.

The Japanese firm’s activities also extend to power projects and infrastructure, plants and industrial machinery, finance, logistics and information industry, and real estate development and construction.