MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Power Corp., the power arm of the Aboitiz Group, is laying the groundwork for the construction of a planned 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Toledo City, Cebu.
The company is preparing to bid out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract of the power plant which is expected to further boost its growing portfolio.
“We continue to develop it. We are writing up specifications and hopefully we will be soliciting bids probably by next month or two. So, we are now in the selection of equipment and getting offers from different contractors,†said Erramon Aboitiz, AboitizPower president and chief executive officer.
With the preparations and construction scheduled to start next year, Aboitiz is on track to jumpstarting commercial operation of the $750-million facility by end 2016 or early 2017.
“Yes, we are on track to more or less what we said we wanted to do,†he said when asked if the company is on track with its earlier target.
Aside from the Toledo project, the company is also putting up a 300-MW coal facility in Davao which hopefully will be operational by early 2015.
In February, AboitizPower announced that it was pouring in P85 billion in the next four years to expand its power business.
“For the next four years, AboitizPower and partners expect to invest P85 billion which will be used in building new power plants across the country,†Aboitiz said at the time.
Aboitiz said the P85 billion, which would translate to roughly 1,400 to 1,500 megawatts of additional capacity, is a combination of AboitizPower’s and its respective partners’ investments in RP Energy, Pagbilao 3 coal-fired plant expansion, the Therma South Coal Plant in Mindanao and roughly three to four hydropower plants.
In the first half of the year, the company posted a 22 percent decline in its net income to P9.5 billion from P12.2 billion a year ago, mainly due to a non-recurring loan loss of P1.3 billion and a P93 million non-recurring expense.