Lopez Group allots $3.14 B for power generation

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) is expanding its power generation portfolio with $3.14 billion in investments, a top company executive said.

FPHC’s operating units First Gen Corp. and Energy Development Corp. are pursuing new energy projects that will increase the Lopez Group’s generating capacity by half to more than 4,000 megawatts (MW) in the medium term.

“The expansion in power generation within FPHC’s portfolio will continue. There is a need for more investments in power generation because of increased capacity requirements,” FPHC chief finance officer Francis Giles Puno told reporters.

Specifically, FPHC’s subsidiary First Gas will spend $1.6 billion to increase the output of the San Gabriel liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants by another 1,300 MW from 2013 to 2018. Another $1 billion will be required for a LNG receiving and regasification facility.

First Gas owns and operates the 1,000-MW Sta. Rita combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant and the 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas power plant, both in Batangas.

Puno said the regasification terminal is required given inadequate natural gas supply from Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project in Northwest Palawan that will be exhausted by 2022.

“We hope to bring in LNG to supply the existing 1,500 MW and double that to close to 3,000 MW to justify LNG regasification terminal investment,” Puno said.

Renewable energy projects are also in the pipeline.

First Gen Corp. will continue to develop three run-of-river projects in Mindanao with a combined capacity of 63 MW.

“Through EDC, First Gen is pursuing an 87-MW wind power project in Burgos, Ilocos Norte that will add to its diversified portfolio of clean power generating assets,” FPHC said.

Puno said the wind farm will cost $300 million while the hydropower projects will require $240 million in investments in the next three years.

As of end-2012, FPHC, one of the top power producers in the country, had a total installed capacity of 2,763 MW, of which natural gas accounts for 54 percent, followed by geothermal at 41 percent and hydropower at five percent.

Meanwhile, the real estate units of the Lopez family’s holding firm are enjoying better performance this year.

FPHC chairman and CEO Federico Lopez said First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) is benefiting from secured energy supply, quality labor force and good governance.

FPIP has expanded its industrial park in Southern Luzon to 450 hectares from the original 300 hectares.

FPHC president Elpidio Ibañez said “the Clark and Subic area is something that we could expand into.”

For its part, Rockwell Land Corp. is venturing into the middle income market through the 53 Benitez mid-rise development in Quezon City.