AMERICAN power giant AES Corp. has no plans to further reduce its stake in the 630-megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal-fired power plant, after it sold 45 percent of its interest to a power firm in Thailand.
The sale left AES Corp. with a 51-percent stake in the power facility in Zambales.
“We’re maintaining our 51-percent ownership. We’re committed to that. That’s where we’re going. We’re committed to investing more in the sector; that’s the direction we wish to take,” AES Market Business Leader Neeraj Bhat said.
Bhat was referring to the company’s commitment to double the capacity of the Masinloc power plant by another 600 MW.
“Were working on the 600-MW expansion of the Masinloc power plant. We expect to start construction in 2015. It will be a three- to four-year construction period so we are talking of finishing it by 2018,” said Bhat, adding that the company is now working on the engineering, procurement, construction contract.
The sale of its 45-percent Masinloc stake to Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand for $453 million also involves approximately 60 MW of potential energy storage projects which AES will built.
“There’s a lot of capacity for energy storage. In island grids, such as the Philippines, this will be of very good use. This is a technology that’s much better than a genset,” he said.
Construction for the energy storage projects has yet to start but the company is already in talks with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) as among its customers.
“We’re working on the development with some potential customers, NGCP being the largest. Yes, we’d like to put it in construction in 2015 depending on how the development goes,” Bhat added.