Sunwest inks P1-B project financing deal with BDO

MANILA, Philippines - Sunwest Water and Electric Co. II (Suweco2) has signed a P1-billion project financing deal with BDO Unibank for an eight-megawatt hydropower project in Antique.

Suweco2 is a subsidiary of renewable energy player Suweco, which aims to be a major supplier of clean renewable energy in off-grid rural areas that are not sufficiently serviced by the national grid.

The P1 billion loan would be used to facilitate the development of the eight-MW Villasiga Hydropower project located in Barangay Igsoro, Bugasong, Antique.

Suweco said Villasiga hydropower project would be the first hydropower plant in Panay Island. It is a run-of-river renewable energy type of power development that will optimize the potential use of the main Paliuan River to generate power, the company said.

With a total investment cost of P1.6 billion, theVillasiga project has the potential to generate 31,479,070 Kwh annually.

Elizaldy Co, chief executive officer of the Sunwest Group of Companies, which includes Suweco, said the project is already 85 percent complete and expected to generate power starting in October 2013.

Furthermore, Co said the establishment of the Villasiga hydropower project is a response to the government’s call to increase the estimated current energy supply of the country for renewable energy to 50 percent in the next 15 years from the current 20 percent.

The project has received the endorsement of the Regional Development Council (RDC) VI as early as 2006.

To date, Suweco has a portfolio of 59 projects at different stages of development, which are expected to generate a total capacity of around 280MW in the next 10 years.