Alternergy aims to complete four RE projects by year-end
Renewable energy (RE) firm Alternergy Holdings Corporation is eyeing to wrap up construction works for its four projects before the end of the year.
During the Alter PSE Investor Day, Gerry P. Magbanua, president of Alternergy, explained that they are aiming to increase its RE capacity through completing more projects by 2025.
“Today, we still have 11 projects in operation, totaling 86 megawatts (MW). What we’re very excited about is that in this year, we are trying to complete five projects that are under construction, and we will achieve commercial operations by the end of the year,” he said.
“We also have projects under development, which we’re pushing for to reach commercial operations by the end of 2026, such that by then, we would be achieving a total of 500 MW of installed capacity.”
These projects include wind, solar, and hydro technologies.
According to the Alternergy chief, the Balsik solar project in Bataan is set for completion by the second quarter of 2025.
The Binga mini hydropower project in Nueva Ecija is also scheduled for commercial operations by the third quarter.
Projects set for completion by the fourth quarter are the Alabat wind project in Quezon and the Tanay wind project in Rizal.
While these projects are expected to contribute more clean power to the nation’s grid, Magbanua assured that the assets would be securely integrated into the grid.
“We do have one project that is connected to a distribution utility (DU), in fact, there are two. The Pilipia project is also connected to a DU in Meralco, while the Dupinga project is connected to a local DU. So, the point here is that all our projects are connected to the grid and we do not have an issue [regarding] connection… We address [these] head-on at the beginning.”
With regard to offshore wind (OSW) developments, Alternergy believes that gaps in regulation and infrastructure still need to be addressed before fully committing to investment.
“We do have a service contract for offshore wind. However, we are taking a very cautious look at that technology, because there are still a lot of regulatory and infrastructure developments that need to take place before we seriously plunge into it,” the Alternergy chief said.
“We continuously monitor the development. We’re helping our colleagues in the industry to develop offshore wind… We believe [that OSW] has tremendous potential to achieve our energy transition goals for the Philippines. We’re not very active in pursuing that, but we are helping, working with the Department of Energy (DOE), [working with] other regulators, to make sure that all the relevent, pertinent policies are in place before we commit to putting in serious amount of capex (capital expenditures) for OSW.”