Spanish conglomerate Acciona S.A. is looking at investment opportunities in the Philippine infrastructure and renewable energy sectors, officials said over the weekend.
Ruben Camba, country director at Acciona Construcción for Singapore and Southeast Asia, said the company planned to participate in the ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure program.
“It is something the Philippines needs. We are going to participate in projects part of the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. There’s a need of transportation. There’s a need of basically metro airport, bridges, communication and to ease the traffic in Manila and Cebu,” Camba said.
Camba said Acciona was already constructing two projects in the Philippines, including the Putatan water treatment plant in Metro Manila and the Cebu-Cordova bridge in the Visayas.
Acciona is one of the largest civil contractors in Europe and has presence in more than 55 countries.
“We want to invest in the Philippines to help the development of infra,” he said.
“We opened the office for Southeast Asia two and a half years ago. We found there is a close bond with Spanish for Philippines. In this time, we would have been able to develop our business here, thanks to this great relationship,” he said.
Camba said he was expecting to announce new infrastructure deals next year.
Jorge Gayoso Mediera, Acciona Energy head of business development in Southeast Asia and Iran, said the company was also studying renewable energy opportunities in the country.
“What we are trying to do is understand the possibilities in the green energy side of the country. We know there is no feed-in-tariff right now in the Philippines, but we are trying to move forward with different deals,” he said.
“We are trying to analyze the potential of private PPAs [power purchase agreements] to supply green energy with industrial consumers. We design specific solutions, for example wind or solar for them,” he said.
Mediera said the company was looking for local partners for its renewable energy projects including battery storage.
“Why Philippines? Because the price of energy here is high which means that we have a chance to compete and offer better prices with RE,” he said.
He said one of the challenges in the Philippines was the lack of land, specifically for solar.
“It’s a big problem. Land conversion is another and it is really crucial. Grid connection is for sure one of the key points and the resource location,” Mediera said.