Category: Events

MANILA, Philippines – Palm Concepcion Power Corp., a joint venture between Palm Thermal Holdings Corp. of A. Brown Co. Inc. and Jin Navitas Resource of the Rebisco Group, has tapped a consortium for the construction of its 135-megawatt state-of-the-art coal-fired power plant project in Concepcion, Iloilo.

Palm Concepcion tapped NLSC, a consortium of First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. of China, Liaoning Electric Power Survey & Design Institute and Shenyang Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd. as contractor for the project.

The company also tapped Alstom Power as supplier of its steam turbine and generator for the project.

Palm Concepcion is aiming to complete the project in early 2016 in time for the additional power supply requirements of the Visayas region.

“We’d like to assure our customers that we will deliver this project as committed because we understand the power situation and the power capacities needed by the time the Concepcion plant is operational, in order to support the economic activities in Panay, Negros and the whole of Visayas,” Palm Concepcion chairman Walter Brown said.

The company is in talks with electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to update them on the 2016 completion of the project.Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Palm Concepcion president Roel Castro said customers in Negros can look forward to better power supply by 2016.

He said the customers were all out to support this project especially now that the construction will be starting in the coming weeks.

Palm Concepcion is expected to issue a notice to proceed to the contractor on June 7.

The Concepcion project is a 2×135-MW power generation plant starting with one unit of 135 MW utilizing coal as primary fuel and using circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology.

In March, the company signed a coal supply contract with PT. Pevensey Indonesia to ensure its coal requirements for the power generation facility.

PT. Pevensey is a Jakarta-based company, which markets coal, iron ore and carbon products to power plants in China, India and the Philippines.

Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2013/06/04/949769/palm-concepcion-taps-contractors-iloilo-plant

Palm Concepcion Power Corp., the joint venture of A Brown Co. Inc.’s Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. and Jin Navitas Resource Inc., said Monday it started construction works on the P12.5-billion coal-fired power plant in Iloilo.

“We are pushing through with the project as planned and committed because we know and understand the power needs in Panay and the whole of Visayas, especially by year 2016 when most of the newly constructed hotel chains, real estate complex and business hubs as well as other establishments are already operational,” Palm Concepcion president and chief executive Roel Castro said in a statement.

The 135-megawatt Concepcion project is expected to be the most advanced and most fuel-efficient plant in the Visayas, as it will use the Alstom Europe technology for steam turbine and generator under the project management of the American-Canadian company SNC-Lavalin.

Palm Concepcion said it signed a coal supply contract with PT Pevensey Indonesia in order to secure the coal supply requirements of the plant.

A Brown acquired Palm Concepcion in November 2010 from DMCI Power Corp., marking its first major venture in the power generation industry.

The company issued the notice to proceed with the construction of the coal plant to NLSC, the consortium of First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. of China, Liaoning Electric Power Survey & Design Institute and Shenyang Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd. on Friday.

Palm Concepcion commissioned NLSC as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

Palm Concepcion held a cocktail ceremony on June 6 at Hotel Del Rio in Iloilo City to announce the start of the first coal-fired power plant in Visayas. The event was attended by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., Concepcion Mayor Milliard Villanueva, key officers from the different electric cooperatives in Panay and officials from different government agencies.

“The Concepcion power plant will be ready to supply the needed power by then [2016],”  Castro said.

Source: https://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/06/11/palm-concepcion-starts-building-p12-5-b-coal-plant/

A unit of A. Brown Company Inc. has signed a hydropower service contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a 25-megawatt (MW) hydropower project in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur.

In a disclosure Monday, A. Brown said the contract gives its wholly-owned subsidiary Hydrolink Projects Corporation exclusive rights to explore, develop and utilize Carac-an river’s hydropower resources.

Hydrolink went for the project after taking into consideration the the expected increase in power demand in the coming years and the scaled down power supply contract of Surigao del Sur II Electric Cooperative with the National Power Corporation, said A. Brown chairman Dr. Walter Brown.

“We would like to help them in this undertaking, and as a sign of our full and sincere intentions, we immediately commissioned a hydropower technical team to study the power potentials of the rivers in Surigao,” Brown said in a statement.

“The results of the study show that Carac-an river has the best potential for development,” he added.

Hydrolink president and A. Brown vice president for Business Development Roel Z. Castro said the company has conducted a pre-feasibility study of the river.

“We have already identified the most viable strategies for its development. We will now proceed to processing the necessary permits and coordinate with Surigao’s local officials for their support of the project,” he said.

The project is part of A. Brown’s plans to support the need for additional power capacities for electric cooperatives in Mindanao. — Danessa Rivera/GMA News

Source: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/316495/economy/companies/energy-dept-a-brown-unit-sign-surigao-del-sur-hydro-power-deal

Palm Concepcion Power Corp. is taking P6 billion worth of loans from Asia United Bank Corp. (AUB) and China Banking Corp. (ChinaBank) to partly fund the construction and operation of a 135 megawatt (MW) power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo.In a July 19 disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange released Monday, A. Brown Company Inc. noted that Palm Concepcion already signed separate loan agreements with Asia United and China Bank.

Palm Concepcion is a joint venture between A. Brown subsidiary Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. and Jin Navitas Resource Inc. of the Rebisco Group.

According to A. Brown, Palm Concepcion will specifically use the loan proceeds to fund the engineering, procurement, construction and financing costs of the power plant, which is expected to start operating by mid-2016.

Palm Thermal and Jin Navitas has tapped NLSC as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the Iloilo power plant. NLSC is a consortium of First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. of China, Liaoning Electric Power Survey & Design Institute, and Shenyang Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp., the investment arm of the Sy Group of Companies, was the lead arranger and sole bookrunner for the term loan facilities, the disclosure noted. — VS, GMA News

Source: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/318564/economy/companies/a-brown-rebisco-group-joint-venture-taps-aub-chinabank-for-p6-b-in-loans-for-iloilo-power-plant

PEAKPOWER Soccsargen Inc., a subsidiary of A Brown Co. Inc. (ABCI),  started ground works on Thursday for its 20.9-megawatt (MW) bunker-fired power plant in South Cotabato.

Peakpower President Roel Castro said the facility will be fully operational by the second half of 2014. “This is just one of many projects designed to address the lack of power in the Mindanao grid for the next two to three years, and to allow the cooperatives to meet the needs for peaking power,” he said, adding that it is part of ABCI’s aim to address the incessant power outages caused by the shortfall in peaking energy in Mindanao.

The security and reliability of power supply would yield more competitive rates and help bring electricity costs down, thus driving down the cost of doing business in the area, added the official.

Peakpower is engaged in the development, construction, operation and maintenance of bunker-fired power plants and systems.

Wärtsilä Finland Oy, a manufacturer of diesel engines with a total of 2 gigawatt-hours of installed capacity in the Philippines, will be supplying the engines. Power, Manufacturing and Marine Works Inc. (PMM Works) is the power generation, engineering, installment and construction contractor for the project, while Ferrowelds Construction is the switchyard contractor.

Peakpower will be supplying electricity to the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II).

“We are here for the long term. This is the first project we have started in this city but we are interested in doing other kinds of projects in any way we can be of assistance. We’re interested in problems: not creating or expanding them but in solving them with the help and assistance of the community, in a transparent manner,” ABCI Chairman Walter Brown said.

Socoteco II General Manager Rodolfo Ocat said Peakpower will construct the power plant on a build-operate-transfer scheme. “We agreed that after 15 years, the power plant will be transferred to the cooperative,” he said.

Aside from Peakpower, ABCI’s foray into the energy industry includes Palm Concepcion Power Corp.’s  270-MW coal-fired power plant project in Concepcion Iloilo and Hydrolink Projects Corp.’s 25-MW hydroelectric project in Surigao that recently signed a service contract with the Department of Energy.

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/business/companies/18027-peakpower-starts-mindanao-project

Local share prices continued to sustain an uptrend as investors bet on the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

The benchmark Philippine stock exchange index (PSEi) rose for a second day 130.96 points to 6,075.17 on Friday from previous day’s 5,944.21.

A new economic data was released Thursday indicating the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.5 percent in the second quarter from 7.7 percent in January to March.

This is the fourth consecutive quarter that the GDP has been expanding about 7 percent.

“GDP is above target, inflation is contained, remittances continue to expand, GIR (gross international reserve) at record levels, among others. Even the anticipated weakness in exports is consistent with expectations,” said Accord Capital Equities Corp.

It said these robust economic figures boost assumptions that year-end PSEi range of 6,800 to 7,200 and as much as 7,500 have been validated.

For the past few weeks, the PSEi had been declining fuelled by fears of a possible escalation of the tensions in Syria and continuing uncertainty about the Federal Reserve policy tapering.

The index even reached its lowest level this year at 5,700 on Wednesday.

All counters were already in the positive territory, led by property and holding firms stocks that rose 2.81 percent and 2.53 percent.

Volume of transactions reached 1.25 billion shares valued at P14.43 billion.

Gainers won decliners, 100 to 53, while 37 issues were unchanged.

Top gainers were led by A. Brown Company Inc., Nextstage Inc., Berjaya Philippines Inc., Information Capital Technology Ventures Inc. and Philex Petroleum Corp.

Source: https://www.usnewslasvegas.com/business/phl-stocks-sustain-gains-on-strong-economic-data/

Peakpower Energy Inc., a unit of A Brown Company Inc., has signed an equipment supply contract with Wärtsilä Finland Oy for two power plants in Mindanao.

The company said in a statement the power projects include the 20.9-megawatt Peakpower Soccsargen plant in General Santos City and the 5-MW Peakpower San Francisco in Agusan del Sur.

Peakpower’s build, operate, maintain and transfer projects are designed to address the shortfall in peaking power in the Mindanao grid that has been causing power outages and affecting businesses in the island.

Both power plants will use Wärtsilä bunker-fired engines. Wärtsilä is a global manufacturer of diesel engines, with 2 gigawatts of installed capacity across the Philippines.

“Construction for both Peakpower Soccsargen and Peakpower San Francisco has commenced and the power plants are set to be fully operational by 2014,” the company said.

Source: https://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/09/06/a-brown-signs-deal-with-finnish-supplier/

The first state-of-the-art clean coal power plant of triumvirate AC Energy Holdings, Corp. (Ayala Corp.), Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. (A. Brown Company Inc.) and Jin Navitas Resource, Inc. was formally launched on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, in simple groundbreaking rites at the 30-hectare project site in Barangay Nipa, Concepcion, Iloilo.

Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor, Sr., House Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada and Concepcion Mayor Milliard Villanueva led the groundbreaking ceremony. They were joined by Dr. Walter Brown, chairman of Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC), directors Eric Francia and Jack Ng, and other key political and business personalities.

“The power plant will use the circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology which is one of the most advanced and most fuel-efficient plant in the Visayas. It will use the latest Alstom Technology (Europe) for its steam turbine and generator,” PCPC President and CEO Roel Z. Castro said.

He said the power plant’s capacity is good for 2x135MW and the target commercial dispatch for the first unit of 135MW is set on the last quarter of 2015. He also disclosed that SNC-Lavalin, a leading Canadian-American company, was appointed as the project owner’s engineer and project manager.

Meanwhile, NLSC – the consortium of First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. of China (NEPC), Liaoning Electric Power Survey & Design Institute and Shenyang Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd. – is the project’s preferred engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. NLSC has over 100 years of combined EPC work experience for thermal power plants. Aside from China, the group has constructed and managed international projects in Asia, South America and Europe.

Gov. Defensor welcomed the new Concepcion plant, emphasizing its importance in the anticipated growth and development in key areas of the province, particularly Iloilo City. Tañada also highlighted the benefits of the Concepcion Plant to the people of the Visayas who will enjoy more stable power supply and a more environment-friendly source of power.

Dr. Brown, on the other hand, pointed out the timely entry of the new Concepcion Plant since the DOE identified 2015 to 2016 as a critical period wherein additional capacities will be needed in the Visayas.

The project has received full support from local business leaders, and provincial, municipal and barangay officials since the new Concepcion plant will help the region achieve its development growth targets. These sectors recognize that the new power plant will provide security and reliability of power supply to sustain the growth of the province and offer competitive rates to bring down the total blended cost of electricity which will be beneficial to the business sector as it can drive down the cost of doing business in the area.

Read more: https://www.inquirer.net/?people-events-places=new-iloilo-power-plant-breaks-ground#ixzz2lqv391xg
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MANILA, Philippines – A Brown Co. Inc. (ABCI), through its wholly-owned subsidiary PeakPower Energy Inc., has entered into an agreement with a South Cotabato electric cooperative for the construction and operation of a bunker-fired power plant in the province.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, A Brown said it has entered into a power supply and transfer Agreement (PSTA) with South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Socoteco II).

Under the agreement, Peak Power will build-operate and maintain-transfer a 20.9-megawatt bunker-fired power plant in the franchise area of Socoteco.

The project is part of the firm’s efforts to help address the power crisis in Mindanao, PeakPower president Roel Castro said.

“This decision to build power generation facilities is our way of contributing a solution to the power problem in Mindanao,” Castro said.

Socoteco, for its part, considered the project beneficial to its operations.

“We found the contract advantageous to the electric cooperative, given the reduction in our supply contracts with National Power Corp. (Napocor) and a huge peaking requirement,” said Socoteco II board president Elenito Senit.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the operator of country’s power transmission highway, said the Mindanao grid currently has a generation deficiency of 170 megawatts.

ABCI hopes to assist power customers maintain their desired level of economic activities by putting up the needed power capacities especially during peak hours.

Socoteco supplies electricity to South Cotabato, Sarangani and Gen. Santos.

ABCI, meanwhile, is a publicly-listed corporation with major interest in real estate, infrastructure development, agribusiness and investments in listed companies.

Its subsidiary Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings is the developer of the 135-MW coal-fired power plant project in the province of Iloilo.

PeakPower is ABCI’s newly incorporated subsidiary for its energy investments.

Aside from energy and its palm oil business, ABCI also owns Brown Resources Corp., which owns and operates hotels and apartments.

Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2013/03/21/922108/brown-unit-inks-deal-socoteco

March 20, 2013 – A Brown subsidiary to put up power facility in Mindanao

Listed A Brown Co. Inc., through a wholly-owned subsidiary Peakpower Energy Inc., will put up a 20.9 megawatt power facility in Mindanao to serve the power needs of South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Socoteco II).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, A Brown said it entered into a power supply and transfer agreement with Socoteco II last March 20 where Peakpower will build-operate and maintain-transfer the 20.9 MW bunker-fired power plant in the cooperative’s franchise area.

“This decision to build power generation facilities is our way of contributing a solution to the power problem in Mindanao,” said Peakpower president Roel  Castro in a statement.

A Brown, however, did  not disclose the rates it offered to Socoteco II or the cost of the diesel plant’s construction. Its officials could not be reached for comment as of posting time.

Last month, A Brown received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the incorporation of Peakpower Energy for 40 million common shares , representing 100 percent of its outstanding capital stock.

Socoteco II welcomed A Brown’s offer “as a means of ensuring their peaking capacity requirements given the demand in their franchise area.”

“We found the contract advantageous to the electric cooperative, given the reduction in our  supply contracts with National Power Corp. and a huge peaking requirement,” said Elenito  Senit, Socoteco II board president.

Mindanao continues to be short of more than 250 megawatts as of Wednesday. Mindanao’s system capacity is only at 910 MW as against a system peak demand of 1,168 MW.

A Brown said that given the limited output of hydropower plants and the  reduced contract with Napocor, Socoteco II has been compelled to continue to implement a  four-hour rotational brownout, starting at 9 am to 9 pm daily.

It said that due to  the critical power situation in the area, the operations of businesses and industries are greatly affected.

“ABCI will assist in enabling power customers maintain their desired level of economic  activities by putting up the needed power capacities especially during peak hours,” A Brown said.

Socoteco II supplies electricity to  SoCSarGen (South Cotabato, Sarangani & General Santos), which has continuously  moved up the economy ladder due its rich agro-industrial base and natural tourist attractions.

A Brown, meanwhile, is a publicly-listed corporation since 1994 with major interest in real  estate, infrastructure development, agribusiness and investments in listed companies. Through its subsidiary Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings, it is the developer of the 135-MW  coal-fired power plant project in Iloilo province.

Source: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/300170/economy/business/a-brown-subsidiary-to-put-up-power-facility-in-mindanao