By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
AC ENERGY Holdings, Inc. is in talks with prospective partners in Vietnam for renewable energy projects as it seeks to take advantage of the Philippine neighbor’s feed-in-tariff regime as well as its ongoing privatization initiatives.
“We’re talking to potential partners in Vietnam,” John Eric T. Francia, AC Energy president and chief executive officer, told reporters, adding the entities it was considering are Vietnamese.
He gave the update on the company’s regional expansion on the sidelines of IBC Asia’s Power and Electricity Week, a two-day conference at Solaire Resort and Casino in Parañaque City.
“We’re doing a lot of early business development works in Vietnam,” he said, describing AC Energy as “very busy” in exploring ventures in the foreign market.
He said the move to look at Vietnam was in part because of its feed-in-tariff for (FiT) incentive for solar and wind projects.
In the Philippines, the country set a FiT installation target for wind and solar, which had been fully subscribed, as well as for biomass and run-of-river hydro power projects, both of which remain to be fully taken up ahead of the end-2017 deadline.
Mr. Francia said Vietnam is offering a solar FiT of 9.35 US cents (around P47.59) per kilowatt-hour and nearly 8 US cents for wind. He said subscription to the solar FiT ends in June 2019, while he was uncertain about the deadline for the guaranteed tariff for wind.
“It’s really exploring partners,” Mr. Francia said about the company’s activity in Vietnam at present.
“We will not invest on our own in Vietnam. We will do it if we have local partners,” he added. “Whether or not there’s a [foreign ownership] limitation, we want to do it with local partners.”
The move to develop renewable energy (RE) projects, locally and internationally, is in line with the company’s aim to develop by 2020 up 2,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity, of which 1,000 MW is targeted to come from renewable energy. The company reached a capacity of 1,000 MW in 2016.
“Right now, if you look at our existing investments, we’ve committed roughly a $1 billion of equity. Twenty percent of that commitment is in Indonesia,” he said, referring to the company’s wind farm project in Sidrap, South Sulawesi and Chevron Corp.’s geothermal operations in Indonesia.
“That’s sort of our baseline today, 20% contribution from international [projects],” Mr. Francia said.
At present, he said the company’s foreign renewable energy projects amount to a capacity of close to 200 MW, or two-thirds of its existing 300 MW of RE capacity.
“I would think at least 50% of our RE would be international. Right now it’s already more than 50%. I don’t see that gap being closed any time soon,” he said.
“Of course, over time we want to scale up big time in the Philippines. But it’s gonna take time for us to scale up RE focused on solar and wind,” he added.
Mr. Francia said AC Energy is also open to exploring conventional energy projects in Vietnam, which he said is going through an “equitization or a privatization process.”
“We’re looking at that. But nothing is imminent yet,” he said.
Of its existing projects, AC Energy has a 20% stake in the 632-MW GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co.; 50% in the 668-MW GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.; 35% in the 244-MW South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.; and 85% in the 552-MW GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co.
Based on data supplied by AC Energy, its 19.8% stake in the 637-MW geothermal steam and power capacity in Darajat and Salak geothermal fields along with its 75% stake in the 75-MW wind farm project in Sidrap, South Sulawesi more than doubled the company’s clean energy capacity to at least 264 MW.
In April this year, AC Energy announced the acquisition of 100% ownership of Bronzeoak Clean Energy and San Carlos Clean Energy, entities with renewable energy development, management and operations platform.
That platform supports San Carlos Solar Energy, Inc., Negros Island Solar Energy, Inc., Monte Solar Energy, Inc., San Carlos BioPower, Inc., South Negros BioPower, Inc. and North Negros BioPower, Inc.
A COFFEE social enterprise supported by Philex Mining Corp. has signed a distribution agreement for its roasted beans, in an arrangement covering national and export markets.
In a statement, Philex Group Foundation, Inc. (PGFI), said the social enterprise, Px Community Foods and Marketing, Inc. (PxCFMI), signed the partnership agreement with Ryokudo Eco-Services and Trading, Inc.
The deal expands the engagement of the community around the company’s Padcal mine in livelihood programs sponsored by Philex. “We are confident that this partnership will further improve the economic condition of our local community members who are also our key partners in this endeavor,” Paulino M. Buenconsejo, PGFI executive director, said in a statement.
“In our last discussion, we also talked about exporting our coffee beans to the US, Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong,” Mr. Buenconsejo said.
PGFI will supply 50 kilos of roasted Arabica coffee to Ryokudo monthly.
“Meanwhile, our beans are also set for nationwide distribution not just in coffee shops and restaurants, but also supermarket chains, like SM, Robinson’s, Puregold, Rustan’s, Landmark, and (Davao-based) NCCC,” he added.
Each plantation will have a consolidated area of more than two hectares within Padcal and nearby areas such as Torre, Sante Fe, and Ampucao, the statement said.
In 2014, PGFI undertook a multi-year program designed to mentor selected coffee farmers on organic coffee farm management, harvesting techniques, and value-adding post-harvest activities that will increase the volume and quality of their produce.
“The farmers are also trained to understand, appreciate, and apply the discipline required in engaging a coffee business enterprise” Mr. Buenconsejo said.
Lawyer Michael T. Toledo, senior vice-president for Public and Regulatory Affairs at Philex Mining, said the agreement with Ryokudo will help sustain social services and job creation among its beneficiaries.
“This is testament that mining, agriculture and other revenue-generating enterprises like tourism can coexist and actually support each other,” Toledo added.
Earlier, Philex Mining announced that additional resources have been discovered in its Bumolo porphyry copper-gold deposit in Benguet which may extend its Padcal mine’s life by two more years to 2024 from 2022.
“The development that we are discussing today is sustainability — at the onset, what the company planned, or the joint venture plans to address the immediate need for employment of the community, when the end of mine life comes,” Mr. Toledo added.
By Arra B. Francia
IT WOULD TAKE the Duterte administration at least three years before the country starts to see the rollout of his massive infrastructure program, considering the regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles it faces, according to property consultancy Pronove Tai.
“From planning to actually getting from bidding, you have CoA (Commission on Audit) and all of this right of way (issues) that would take around three years. Now until 2020, it’s all planning. By the time he starts scratching the ground for his infrastructure it’s already 2020,” Pronove Tai Chief Executive Officer Monique Cornelio-Pronove said in a quarterly briefing in Makati on Wednesday.
“Then by the time it gets finished, that’s around three years to four years,” Ms. Pronove added, which means that the next president would have to oversee the projects’ completion.
The consultancy noted that any construction activities currently ongoing are still a spillover from the previous administration.
“The reality is, what you see right now where a lot of construction is being completed, that’s still a carry-over from the past administration. It cannot be that in one years’ time, he was able to build a bridge,” she said.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte earlier announced his plan of increasing infrastructure spending to P8.4 trillion in the next five years, which would bring its share to the country’s gross domestic product to 7.4% by 2022, up from 2016’s share of 4.7%.
The property consultancy noted that even when the projects are approved for construction, it would still have to deal with construction problems that currently hound the market, such as the lack of skilled labor.
Data from the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines, an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, states that it expanded its work force to 3.3 million in 2016, adding 675,000 workers during the period.
This number, however, may still be insufficient to meet the demand needed by the robust private real estate sector alongside the government’s infrastructure boom.
“He can fast track it, by getting a lot of laborers, by putting in a lot of technology,” Ms. Pronove noted.
The company said that these problems are currently being addressed by the government by providing necessary training through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, while private firms are tapping the labor force in the provinces to meet the demand in Metro Manila.
“If our people can actually do three jobs, why not? And the thing is we are already seeing, if you just look around there are already foreign companies doing construction, if there’s no more people. But the thing is our people need to be flexible,” Ms. Pronove said.
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said Hungary has provided a loan of some $500 million, initially planned to finance water treatment facilities.
“I have informed Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III of the Department of Finance to assist us on the discussion on how this money was transferred to the country,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said in a Wednesday statement.
Initially, DA is looking at Laguna de Bay as a pilot area for the proposed development of water treatment facilities.
Mr. Piñol added that fishing communities around Laguna de Bay can be tapped to manage the operations of the facilities.
“We welcome this development as we look up to how Hungary maintains good water quality. They have very advanced technologies,” he added.
Mr. Piñol also said he has informed Hungarian Ambassador to the Philippines Jozsef Bencze of his interest to allocate a portion of the said loan for the construction of the proposed Philippine rubber tire facility.
In addition, Mr. Piñol also reported that the Malacañang has approved the visit of rice experts from Hungary to study how the country plants rice during the dry season with the mission expected to start in November.
“We will show them how we plant rice during the season when there are no rains and we only use irrigated water,” Mr. Piñol added. — Janina C. Lim
A “GREEN” JEEPNEY is set to be unveiled on Thursday, highlighting the viability of converting a regular Sarao internal combustion engine into an electric vehicle.
QEV Philippines, a joint venture between the Philippines’ Endika Aboitiz and Spain’s Enrique Bañuelos, will introduce the zero-carbon emitting and full electricity-run vehicle after months of extensive research and development. The company is the local unit of QEV Capital Pte. Ltd.
Initially, the plan was to bring in QEV’s charging infrastructure with a complimentary market of e-vehicles, the company said in a statement.
“But when QEV’s principal investor first laid eyes on the jeepney, it was love at first sight. In his resolve, he had a Sarao jeepney sent to Spain for extensive research and development, so they can study how it can be converted from an internal combustion engine into electric,” QEV Philippines added.
“After more months of local research, a team of Spanish engineers then flew to the Philippines to start work on the conversion. Today, that jeepney is now a green jeepney, having zero-carbon emissions and running 100% on electricity,” it said.
The green jeepney’s debut will be at the Bonifacio Ballroom, Shangri-La at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City.
QEV Capital’s subsidiary QEV Technologies will be partnering with and assisting local jeepney manufacturers in the engine conversions.
“Sarao Motors, Inc. will be one of these partners,” QEV said.
It said the charging stations for the e-vehicles would also be made widely available. Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), which produces universal charging stations, is QEV Philippines technological partner.
“As for the initial network of charging station locations, QEV Philippines is in serious talks with Shell, Ayala, and SM. AboitizPower will provide the supply of renewable energy that will be used to power these charging stations, thus reducing overall carbon footprint,” the company said. — Victor V. Saulon
AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he intends to submit a report to President Rodrigo R. Duterte recommending ways to prevent mining from affecting agricultural land.
The measure follows complaints in Zambales, where mining has allegedly affected local fishing grounds.
He said his proposal will involve assessing a mine’s impact on water resources. “Will it spoil our water source that provides water for irrigable agriculture? Will it result in soil erosion or a tailings spill?” similar to what happened in Zambales, Mr. Piñol said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Mr. Piñol said that some miners in the province have been accused of contaminating fishing grounds.
“The cases cited prove that there have been negative effects on agriculture,” he added, noting that the agency has deployed a team to validate the incidents.
Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Central Luzon Region Officer-in-charge Director Lope O. Cariño disputed the claims, and asked the Department of Agriculture to provide a detailed report on mining’s role in water contamination
“They need to provide proof and submit a report so we can validate the research,” Mr. Cariño said in a phone interview yesterday.
Under the Philippine Mining law of 1995, mining firms are charged a semi-annual fee for damage to land, crops and forest resources, marine life and aquatic resources, and cultural resources, among others.
For his part, MGB Assistant Director Danilo U. Uykieng said that the Environmental Impact Assessment conducted during the application process of mining companies,among other projects, also accounts for agricultural land that may be affected.
“Those concerns have been addressed for some time now,” Mr. Uykieng said in phone interview yesterday. — Janina C. Lim
