Pure Energy Holdings Corp. said it formed a consortium to start the construction of P660 million worth of mini hydropower plants in Quezon province.
Pure Energy said subsidiaries Blue Energy Holdings and Management Corp. and Repower Energy Development Corp. teamed up with Giga United Power and businessman Willy Ocier to build two mini-hydro plants in Real, Quezon.
“After years of pre-development work, we look forward to starting the construction phase of our two mini-hydro projects in Quezon province. These power plants will harness our abundant river waters to generate electricity in a clean and sustainable manner,” Blue Energy president and chief operating officer Christopher Tiu said in a statement.
The consortium will commence work on the access roads and construction is expected to be on full swing this month. The project is expected for completion in 2019.
The Lower Labayat and Upper Tignoan mini-hydropower plants are expected to produce 1.4 megawatts and 1.5 MW once completed.
“Furthermore, we expect to generate more than 400 jobs through these projects,” Tiu said.
The hydropower plants will power around 7,000 households and deliver an average of 65 percent of plant capacity year round upon project completion.
The projects will avail of the feed-in-tariff rate of P5.90 per kilowatt-hour for run-off-river mini hydropower.
The Lower Labayat project will connect to Repower’s Labayat 1 hydropower plant, sharing the same transmission lines and access roads, while the Upper Tignoan project will connect to the Repower switchyard nearby.
Aside from the Lower Labayat and Tignoan groundbreaking, Repower will hold the groundbreaking for the 3-MW Lalawinan run-of-river hydropower plant with joint venture partner Manila Electric Co., also in May under the joint venture Pure Meridian Hydropower Corp.
Pure Meridian recently held the ground breaking for a 10.6-MW run-of-river hydropower project in Lumbayao, Valencia City in Bukidnon province.
Repower also owns mini-hydro power projects in Laguna, Camarines Sur and other provinces with a total potential capacity of 124 MW which entails investments of about $500 million.
Pure Energy, meanwhile, plans to raise P1.58 billion through an initial public offering within the first half.
Pure Energy plans sell 930 million common shares with an option to sell another 46.5 million shares at a price of up to P1.62 apiece. The shares represent 15.6 percent of the company’s authorized capital stock.
The company tapped Abacus Capital Securities as sole underwriter of the offering.
Proceeds from the planned IPO will be used to fund the construction of the power plants.