SM Group going full throttle in clean energy push

MANILA, Philippines — The SM Group, owned by the country’s richest family, is positioning renewable energy (RE) as a cornerstone of its long-term growth strategy, scaling up investments beyond geothermal power.

SM Investments Corp., the group’s parent company, is expanding the empire left behind by the late taipan Henry Sy Sr. by doubling down on renewables, with wind power among the opportunities being explored.

In a recent company briefing, SM Investments president and CEO Frederic DyBuncio said the group’s power arm Philippine Geothermal Production Co. Inc. (PGPC) would be at the forefront of this expansion.

“We are focused on geothermal energy production, which is baseload and runs 24/7. Production has been doing well, and with a new rig in place, we are building capacity to develop more sites,” DyBuncio said.

PGPC recently started its exploration activities at Mount Malinao in Albay, where three new wells were drilled.

The project, one of the group’s five new concession areas, is expected to generate up to 49 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power.

Currently, PGPC operates the Tiwi steam field in Albay and the Mak-Ban facility spanning the provinces of Laguna and Batangas.

“At SM, we see renewable energy as both a responsibility and an opportunity to support the country’s energy transition while building more resilient and sustainable businesses and communities,” DyBuncio said.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan, the government wants to increase the share of renewables in the country’s power mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040 from the current 22 percent.

Apart from PGPC, SMIC said it is also embedding its clean energy commitment across its other businesses, including mining, property and banking.

For instance, Carmen Copper Corp., a unit of SMIC’s Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., recently commissioned the country’s first operating MW-scale floating solar facility in Toledo City, Cebu.

Spanning across three hectares on the Malubog Reservoir, the facility can generate up to 4.99 MW of clean power, enough to meet about 10 percent of the copper mine’s energy needs.

Integrated property developer SM Prime Holdings, meanwhile, recently switched on the country’s largest rooftop solar photovoltaic system at SM Fairview in Quezon City.

With an annual generation output of 5,960 MW-hours, the solar facility is expected to provide 11 percent of the mall’s energy requirements.

“By end-2025, SM Prime targets 63 malls with 100 MW total capacity,” SMIC said.

In banking, the Sy family’s BDO Unibank Inc. have financed 63 clean energy projects totaling P1 trillion with an aggregate installed capacity of 2,679 MW.