By Myrna M. Velasco
The energy investment arm of Garcia-led Vivant Corporation has inked a 15-year power supply agreement with Bantayan Island Electric Cooperative (BANELCO), engaging the former to supply 15 megawatts of the island’s electricity needs.
The 15MW capacity off-take (capacity purchase) of BANELCO accounts for the lion’s share of the electricity to be generated from the 23.31MW power project being developed by Vivant subsidiary Isla Norte Energy Corporation.
In the project’s corporate vehicle, the entities involved that are also affiliated companies of the Garcia-led company are Vivant Energy, Vivant Integrated Diesel Corporation and Gigawatt Power, Inc.
The power supply deal between BANELCO and Isla Norte for the Bantayan island project is targeted for joint filing with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) around March this year.
The power facility, once completed, will supply electricity to three municipalities: Bantayan, Santa Fe and Madrilejos which are all part of the Bantayan island domain.
During the PSA signing early this week, BANELCO President Oscar Seares stressed that such cements what the power utility looks forward to as “a happy partnership with Isla Norte in the next 15 years.”
For his part, Vivant Energy Chief Operating Officer Emil Andre Garcia noted that the deal will be an opportunity for the company “to contribute to the continued growth of Bantayan.”
Garcia opined that “having a stable and reliable supply of energy is vital to the economic and social development of the community,” and being bestowed with such responsibility is what he considers as wanting “to do good” in their home province of Cebu.
Gigawatt Power President Walden Tantuico emphasized that satisfactory service and commitment as well as reliability of power supply would be “something that we can commit to BANELCO.”
Beyond the Bantayan undertaking, Vivant Energy has previously bared plans on various power projects that they will be pursuing this year – including prospective installations in Puerto Princesa and El Nido, Palawan for aggregate capacity of 30 megawatts; then another 16 megawatts in Marinduque province.
The company qualified though that all these ventures are subject to competitive selection process (CSP) by their host distribution utilities, but in case the company wins in the bidding, Vivant Energy is prepared to inject warranted capital outlay.
With improving bottom line which fetched net income after tax of P2.0 billion for the company in 2019, Garcia indicated that their board of directors had also green-lighted over P1.0 billion capital expenditure (capex) for pipelined greenfield power projects this year. (MMV)