By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor

THE SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) group expects to end the year with an “almost 20%” increase in revenues and profits, a top official said.

“In the fourth quarter last year and into the first quarter this year, there was a lot of inflow so we were able to keep the dams at a very high level,” Joseph S. Yu, SNAP president and chief executive officer, told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

“So that allowed us to then ride into the dry season with a lot of power. We’re actually running on almost normal load.”

The SNAP group, a joint venture of Norway’s SN Power AS and Aboitiz Power Corp., owns a number of hydroelectric power plants in north Luzon.

“For us, 2017 was a very strong year,” Mr. Yu said, but declined to disclose revenue and profit figures.

SN Aboitiz Power-Magat, Inc. owns and operates the 360-MW Magat hydroelectric power plant at the border of Isabela and Ifugao. Its 8.5-MW Maris Main Canal 1 hydroelectric power plant started commercial operation in November.

“Magat has set a record [for the plant] this year in terms of total kilowatt hours (kWh) produced,” Mr. Yu said.

Another unit, SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet, Inc., owns and operates the 105-MW Ambuklao hydroelectric power plant in Bokod and the 140-MW Binga hydro plant in Itogon.

Ambuklao-Binga hydroelectric power complex is a facility won by AboitizPower through its unit SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet when this was bid out by state agency Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. in 2007.

The Ambuklao plant re-operated in 2011 as a 105-MW power plant after its rehabilitation and upgrading between 2008 and 2011. The plant had been shut down and put under preservation since 1999 because of the damage from the 1990 earthquake.

The Binga plant also underwent refurbishment, which was started in 2010 and completed in 2013, resulting in an increased generating capacity of up to 140 MW.

“The front half of the year, we had a lot of inflow, we had a very good hydrology so were able to run much, much more in the front half of the year than we would normally be able to,” Mr. Yu said about the plants’ performance.

“The first two quarters of the year we had very strong production,” he added.

He declined to give SN Aboitiz Power group’s contribution to the revenues and income of parent firm AboitizPower except to say it is “very significant.”

SNAP is currently securing permits for the $420-million hydro facility it is developing in Alimit, Ifugao province. The project is a 390-MW complex composed of three facilities — the 120-MW Alimit hydropower plant; the 250-MW Alimit pump-storage plant; and the 20-MW Olilicon hydropower plant.

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