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Aboitiz
Power Corp., a Philippine power producer and
distributor, and its partners may spend $1.1 billion in
the next three years to build four power plants in the
Southeast Asian nation.
The plan
will raise the company’s share of output from
joint-venture projects and power plants it operates to
800 megawatts (MW) in 2010 from 500 MW this year,
president Erramon Aboitiz said in a phone interview
Monday.
Aboitiz
Power is in talks with partners including Taiwan
Cogeneration Corp. about building the plants.
The
company, based in Cebu city, is boosting capacity to
compete with power producers including First Gen Corp.,
the largest Philippine nonstate utility. Domestic demand
for electricity is rising, spurred by an economy that
expanded 7.5 percent in the second quarter, the fastest
pace in two decades.
“We see
a tightening of supply and demand,’’ Aboitiz said. “Part
of our strategy is the development’’ of new power
plants, he said.
The
company will build a $500 million 300-MW coal-power
plant in the Subic Bay area, north of Manila, with
Taiwan Cogeneration, said Aboitiz. The power producer
started constructing two hydroelectric plants with a
combined capacity of 72 MW in Davao in the southern
Philippines. The project will cost more than $200
million, he said.
Aboitiz
Power is in talks with another partner for a 210
MW-coal-fired power plant costing $400 million.
The
company, which bought the state-run 360-MW Magat
hydroelectric plant last year, plans to bid for power
plants the government is scheduled to auction before the
year-end, he said.
Aboitiz
Power may spend as much as $1.5 billion to buy three
more plants from the Philippine government, Aboitiz said
on August 17. The company plans to bid for the 175-MW
hydroelectric complex in Benguet province, he said.
Aboitiz
Power, which has dropped 9 percent since its
initial-share sale in July, was unchanged at P5 at the
close in Manila. (With reporting by Debra Mao in Hong
Kong and Ian Sayson in
Manila.)
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