The Aboitiz Power Corp. is eyeing hydropower project ventures in Indonesia and Myanmar in expanding its business in Southeast Asia amid the oversupply situation in the Philippines.
“[We’re looking at] large, impounding [hydropower plants] in Myanmar, which has the potential for several hundred MW,” Aboitiz Power president and chief operating officer Antonio Moraza said.
Indonesia is good. It has the potential of 400 or 500 MW if you cascade it [but] the size is yet to be determined,” he added.
Aboitiz will team up with SN Power AS of Norway and other local firms for the overseas ventures.
“Our partners have the expertise, you know they have over 15,000 MW of hydropower in Norway. These guys really know what they are doing,” Moraza said.
The power company now has a partnership with SN Power and PT Energi Infranusantara to invest in PT Augira Energi that will conduct a feasibility study for the exploration and development of a potential 127 MW hydropower generation project along the Lariang River in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Aboitiz is on the lookout for more hydro projects in Indonesia, Moraza said. This is after they withdrew its participation in a geothermal power project in the said country to focus on resources in ongoing projects.
“Our experience with geothermal is, I think, we’ve come to realize that it is riskier than we thought,” Moriza said.
Meanwhile, in Myanmar, Aboitiz said that they have a site identified and have sent a staff to study the site.
“We know the site, people have been there. We studied, talked to a local community, the typical. When you have all of that and you have licenses, etc then there you can already start the design. It’s long and takes a while,” Moraza said.
Once developments begin, these projects will be on top of the company’s target to have 4,000 MW attributable capacity by 2020.
“The 4,000 MW for 2020 is already there, kinda made. We have several projects ongoing…None of these include any expansion outside the Philippines because the [overseas] expansion outside won’t be finished by 2020,” Moraza said.
