First Gen plans to spend $20b on power plants

By Alena Mae S. Flores

CLEAN and renewable energy company First Gen Corp. on Wednesday disclosed its plan to spend $20 billion to bring its power generation capacity to 13,000 megawatts by 2030.

“We view First Gen’s diverse portfolio of clean and renewable energy sources as a key enabler to a greener electricity grid. Our target is to grow our low-carbon energy portfolio to 13,000 MW by 2030, of which 9,000 MW will be renewables,” First Gen chairman and chief executive Federico Lopez said during the company’s annual stockholder’s meeting.

First Gen has around 3,500 MW of power capacity.

“The reason we are putting it as a

2030 target is we’re aligning it with the DOE’s [Department of Energy] forecasted demand,” First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said.

“If the government is saying this is the demand growth, then we’ll have to keep up with that demand growth. It is aligned with that. But more importantly for us, we’ll have to have an organization and an initiative on all our platforms to be able to address that expected demand of energy in the country

SM Prime to open first shopping mall in Balanga, Bataan on Friday

By Jenniffer B. Austria

SM PRIME Holdings Inc., one of the leading integrated property developers in Southeast Asia, said Wednesday it will open on Friday its first shopping mall in Bataan province.

SMPH said in a disclosure to the stock exchange SM City Bataan would add 46,000 square meters of gross floor area to its mall portfolio.

“Bataan has been a popular destination among local and foreign tourists for its wonderful mix of historical, natural and educational sites. We are very excited to open our new mall, SM City Bataan, in the province as we aim to add color to its rich culture and further spur economic activities that are set to provide significant growth opportunities, convenience and entertainment to everyone,” SMPH president Jeffrey Lim said.

The two-level shopping mall will open with more than 90 percent of space lease-awarded and will house diverse selection of shops and services, both local and international labels. It will also open with foodcourt, cyberzone, event center, cinemas, parking zones and transport terminal complex. by 2030,” Puno said.

SM City Bataan is expected to provide unique malling experience as it opens with alfresco dining areas, work pods, a pet park, bike-friendly facilities, electric car vehicle station and other scenic spots.

SM City Bataan is located at the provincial capital of Balanga City which serves as the center of governance, trade and tourism of the province.

“We expect further growth opportunities for the province and its people with more infrastructure projects waiting to be completed in Bataan. We hope that, through SM City Bataan, we will be able to provide everyone more reasons to enjoy and stay in this beautiful province,” Lim said.

SM City Bataan is SMPH’s 83rd mall in the Philippines. Once opened, SM Prime will have 59 malls in the provincial areas of the country and 24 malls in Metro Manila.

First Gen plans to increase its wind power capacity by 5,100 MW from 150 MW and add 1,500 MW of solar generation capacity to its existing 12 MW. It also aims to add 2,000 MW of capacity from natural gas and 700 MW from geothermal projects.

First Gen said it would also expand its hydro capacity by 300 MW from 134 MW and add 40 MW to its battery energy storage system.

The company is allocating $1.1 billion for 2023 capital expenditures, including for acquisition of the 165-megawatt Casecnan hydroelectric power plant for $526 million.

It is allocating $403 million for activities of Energy Development Corp., $90 million to complete its integrated liquefied natural gas terminal project in Batangas and $50 million for the Aya pumped storage project.

First Gen executive vice president and chief commercial officer Jon Russell said the LNG terminal construction was completed in March, and the company had filed an application with the DOE for a permit to operate and maintain the project. Russell said the LNG terminal would be in the dry commissioning phase until September, when the floating storage regasification unit would be commissioned.

He said the wet commissioning phase would begin in September and would involve LNG receipt, storage and regasification, which would then be used to power the gas plants. First Gen is about to issue a tender in the next two weeks for about 160,000 cubic meters of spot LNG cargo.

“That’s the cargo we’ll use for the wet commissioning, and then the first supply to power plants electricity using LNG,” Russell said.

“We’re in parallel discussions for medium to long-term supply. Those are ongoing with different entities, but for now, we are prioritizing the spot tender so we can get the project in operation then the medium to long-term contract will then follow. We anticipate those will start by 2024 at the earliest,” he said.

First Gen officials said natural gas is a reliable bridge to renewable energy sources as natural gas plants could quickly generate power and complement the intermittency of solar and wind power plants.

“This can also complement other renewable energy sources like hydro and geothermal, providing energy security throughout the transition,” Puno said.