French firm buys majority stake in local power firm

CEBU, Philippines - French company Sparkling Commodities has acquired majority stake of Filipino-owned power generation and coal distribution company Asia Pacific Energy Venture Inc. (APERVI) providing thicker monetary resources to expand its business in the Philippines.

APERVI president Cesar Lao-as announced yesterday in a press conference that this majority stake acquisition through the French firm's subsidiary in Hong Kong, the Sparkling Capital Ltd, will give APERVI the upper-hand to pursue its aggressive business expansions in the coal-distribution, as well as accelerating the completion of its 150-megawatt powerplant construction in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental that will aid the power shortage problem in the Visayas grid.

Sparkling Commodities, which also owns coal mining operations in Indonesia will also help APERVI to bring in more coal products to the Philippines, in its Coal terminal also located in Cadiz City, which has a capacity of loading 100 thousand metric tons of coal at one time.

Full operation of its coal terminal in Cadiz is set next month, Lao-as said.

Lao-as said APERVI is currently opening its doors for interested bidders for contract some of the required services of the P14 billion coal-powered power plant project operated by APERVIs subsidiary company North Negros Energy Power Corporation.

The bidding include the detailed engineering and selection of Equipment provider Contractor (EPC), among others.

Now working on some documentary requirements, the power plant is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2017, Lao-as said.

With the entry of the French company, Lao-as said APERVI will be able to help address the shortage of coal supply in the country, and most significantly aid the looming power supply tightening in the Visayas region.

At present, Negros Occidental is importing 80 percent of its power requirement from different power plants in Cebu. While the whole Visayas grid is short of 300 mega-watt supply.

The entire grid’s current demand for power is at P1,900 megawatt, while power plants supply within the grid can only produce 1,700 MW. — (FREEMAN)