MANILA, Philippines — Strong power demand in Mindanao lifted the net profit of Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) by 52 percent.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ACR said net earnings rose to P617 million from P405 million.
Revenue grew by 19 percent to P11.99 billion due to the improvement in power demand in Mindanao.
“As expected, power demand in Mindanao continued to grow in 2022, as day to day activities in the island continued to normalize in the aftermath of the pandemic,” ACR deputy CFO Philip Edward Sagun said.
ACR said its 210-megawatt (MW) Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload power plant continued to be its key revenue and income driver.
SEC currently provides power to key areas in Mindanao including Sarangani Province, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Dipolog, Dapitan, Pagadian, Samal, Tagum, Kidapawan and Butuan.
ACR also said its 100-MW Western Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) diesel plant in Zamboanga City was also another key revenue.
WMPC is the only major power generation facility in the Zamboanga Peninsula, providing power to Zamboanga City and supplying vital ancillary services to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to help stabilize the power grid in the Western Mindanao Region.
ACR is now focused on building up its renewable energy capacity in the next few years, with around eight run-of-river hydroelectric power facilities in the company’s pipeline.
The first of these hydroelectric power plants is the 14.5-MW Siguil Hydro power plant currently under construction in Maasim, Sarangani, which is targeted to begin operations before the end of the year.
The next two renewable energy facilities slated for development are a hydro and solar power project in Zamboanga del Norte with a potential combined capacity of up to 37.8 MW, and a hydro power project in the Bago River in Negros Occidental with a planned capacity of up to 42 MW.
ACR is Mindanao’s first private-sector power generator, which currently has a portfolio of four power facilities with an aggregate capacity of 468 MW serving over eight million people in 14 cities and 11 provinces in the country’s second largest island.