MRC ALLIED, Inc., which diversified into energy development early this year, plans to invest between P80 billion and P100 billion in the next 10 years to achieve its aspirational goal of putting up 10,000 megawatts (MW) of power capacity.
“We are looking at a target of at least 10,000 MW of clean and renewable energy in 10 years,” said Gladys N. Nalda, MRC Allied president and chief executive officer, in a statement on Thursday.
“This will be equivalent to about P80-P100 billion or more in terms of capital investment depending on the technology or resource,” she added.
Ms. Nalda described the 10-year target as “ambitious” in her first year at the helm of MRC Allied, but says she and her team are focused on meeting this goal.
“As we all say goodbye to 2017, our team looks forward to a bigger and better MRC in 2018. We hope that all our partners, stakeholders and the investing public will continue to show the same kind of support we received this year,” she said.
Ms. Nalda said the 10-year goal was presented to the company’s board of directors during their last meeting for the year.
For 2017, she said MRC Allied exceeded its target capacity of 200 MW of clean energy. Earlier this year, the company announced its plan to develop at least 1,000 MW of renewable energy in five years.
The company recently acquired a 15% stake in the 50-MW Sulu Electric Power and Light (Phils.), Inc. (Sepalco), an operating solar farm in Leyte. It noted Sepalco is a “significant” addition to the 100-MW Clark solar project and the 60-MW Naga solar project, which are in pre-development stage.
MRC Allied’s pipeline projects include the possible foray into the solar rooftop business after it entered into discussions with Xentro Mall, a local company developing a chain of community malls nationwide.
Ms. Nalda also said she was seeking an opportunity to develop liquefied natural gas facilities in the country and that MRC was “looking at possible partnerships for these types of projects.”
“There is also a growing potential for the company to pursue projects in the off-grid areas, solar PV (photovoltaic) business and embedded RE projects,” she added.
The MRC Allied chief said Republic Act No. 10963 or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, which will be implemented in 2018, along with coal “becoming less and less viable option” would make timely the shift into clean and renewable power sources.
“We are open to pursuing all types of energy provided it is clean or renewable. We will also continue with our buy or build strategy as we add more energy projects to our portfolio. We will be more aggressive in seeking partners in order to achieve our target capacity,” she said.
Shares in MRC slipped by 1.47% to close at P0.335 each on Thursday. — Victor V. Saulon
