SNAP interested in 728-MW Caliraya, Botocan-Kalayaan plant

MANILA, Philippines — SN Aboitiz Power Group (SNAP) is interested in the government’s 728-megawatt Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant in Laguna.

SNAP is the joint venture between SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power Corp.

“We feel we’re very well positioned to acquire that asset and to optimize it. We think it’s a very good fit to the portfolio that we have today. We would be very interested if CBK would be privatized,” said Joseph Yu, president and CEO of SNAP.

SNAP owns and runs a handful of hydropower plants in the Luzon.These include the 380-MW Magat hydropower plant on the border of Isabela and Ifugao, one of the largest hydro facilities in Luzon, which it acquired from government in 2007.

Magat, one of the first merchant power plants put up in a developing country in East Asia, was the first privatization deal successfully concluded with significant foreign participation under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

SNAP also owns the 8.5-MW Maris run-of river hydropower plant in Isabela, the 105-MW Ambuklao hydropower plant in Benguet and the 140-MW Binga hydropower plant also in Benguet.

Meanwhile, the CBK plant is one of the remaining power assets of government up for privatization by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

The CBK plant is under an IPP administrator contract with CBK Power Co. Ltd. until Feb. 7, 2026.

PSALM president and chief executive officer Irene Joy Besido-Garcia said the agency has tapped the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to do the study on the PP hydropower plants, as directed by the Department of Finance (DOF) earlier this year.