Repower Energy acquires Philpodeco

Renewable energy company Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC) on Thursday announced it has acquired Philippine Power and Development Co. (Philpodeco), the owner of the three oldest operating mini-hydropower plants in the country.

 

REDC said it acquired Philpodeco as it expects to multiply the output of the three plants located in Laguna after a P300-million overhaul.

 

Philpodeco currently supplies electricity to the municipalities of Majayjay, Magdalena, Sta. Cruz, Pila, Victoria, Bay, Los Banos, and Calamba, Laguna. It also covers the area of Sto. Tomas in Batangas.

 

According to REDC,  the acquisition was recommended by Manny V. Vergel III of Vergel3 Consult Inc., the only Filipino World Bank consultant on mini-hydropower.

 

Citing his study, REDC said the existing water resources can support bigger capacity plants through the implementation of advanced technology and upgrading of the civil works.

 

"REDC will upgrade these Laguna-based low-impact hydro plants, with the latest run-of-river systems technology," it said in an emailed statement.

 

The systems will generate energy by utilizing water which will effectively raise the water level and ensure constant water supply and minimize the hydro plants' impact on the environment.

 

"REDC's enhancements will increase the current output of the Balugbog, Calibato, and Palapakin hydro plants by more than 4-fold, or generating over 11 gigawatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually," it said.

 

The plants will be able to operate for the next 100 years, REDC Chief Executive Dexter Y. Tiu said.

 

"The beauty of these plants is that you know that the system has been operating for the last 88 years, and with the current hydrology study completed, it will still be productive for the next 100," he said.

 

"The fact that these plants were not efficiently run by the former management, using only band aid solutions to mitigate problems, we are going to change all that through investment in technology and infrastructure," he added.

 

Philpodeco began operating the plants on 1983.

 

Aside from the plants in Laguna, REDC is also developing over 50 MW of mini-hydropower plants in the provinces of Quezon, Bukidnon, and Camarines Sur.

 

Groundbreaking of the greenfield plants will begin next week.  — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ELR, GMA News