Nickel Asia Corp. is pouring an additional P2.92 billion in renewable energy subsidiary Emerging Power Inc. through share subscription.
Nickel Asia said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday its board of directors approved the additional investments which would increase the company’s stake in EPI to 95.8 percent.
The mining firm said EPI would use the additional investments to finance the operations of existing projects and those of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
EPI operates a 100-megawatt solar farm in Mt. Sta. Rita in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales with a 230-kilovolt-transmission line under subsidiary Jobin SQM Inc.
It also secured a second 100-MW solar service contract with the DOE for the Mt. Sta. Rita site whose development would begin this year.
EPI is also developing pilot geothermal projects in Mindoro and Biliran. Once completed, the pilot operations may be expanded to realize 20 MW in Mindoro and 50 MW in Biliran.
The company signed an agreement in July with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. to jointly develop, own operate and maintain onshore renewable energy projects in the Philippines.
The EPI-Shell venture aims to develop 1 gigawatt of projects by 2028 with potential to contribute up to 3 GW into the country’s renewable capacity by initially rolling out a series of projects in Luzon and the Visayas.
The share price of Nickel Asia rose 1.2 percent Monday to close at P6.83.