SMC Global Power Holdings (SMCGP), the power generating arm of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), is looking to build a 300-megawatt (MW) pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Malay, Aklan worth Php26.3 billion.
In its project description filed with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, subsidiary SMCGP subsidiary Strategic Power Development Corporation said that the facility, which would operate along the Nabaoy and Imbaroto rivers, aims to supply a portion of the Visayas Grid’s renewable energy (RE) requirement, specifically during peak hours.
The faciltity, it said, would also provide the grid ancillary services and peaking power.
Commissioning is expected by the third quarter of 2025 and full operations would commence in the second half of 2026.
Host communities would likewise benefit from the project, SMCGP said, as they would receive one centavo per kilowatt-hour generated under Energy Regulation 1-94, a stipulation of Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).
The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a San Miguel with a hydropower service contract for the project back in 2014.
SMC President and CEO Ramon Ang recently said that the diversified conglomerate is pivoting towards RE and liquefied natural gas projects after it announced it was dropping three coal projects in Quezon and Cebu. The DOE imposed a moratorium on the building of new coal plants in October 2020.