A TOP official of the National Power Corp. (NPC) said the multibillion-peso rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui hydropower complex has drawn interest from multilateral lending agencies.
“A French group, the French government have expressed interest. We also got inquiries from Australia and Japanese companies. It is looking more like a multilateral loan,” said Pio J. Benavidez, NPC president and CEO.
The NPC official previously identified China as one of those interested, but he said the other day that China is no longer in the list of interested firms in the rehabilitation of the hydropower complex, which supplies Mindanao electric power consumers more than 50 percent of their total electricity requirements.
He said the rehab cost could reach anywhere from P37 billion to P50 billion. The Agus complex, which has 728 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, consists of six cascading power plants strategically located along the Agus River.
The Polangui complex is a 255-MW hydropower facility with three generating units. Both facilities, however, already have de-rated generation.
The government is keen on commencing the rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui complex aimed at extending the facilities’ service life by 30 more years and to increase the plants’ reliability and availability.
Benavidez said the World Bank is still interested. “The World Bank would be joining other funding institutions covering multilateral funding. Its role is to do a feasibility study on what optionscan be done for the Agus plant.”
“We’re looking at three options. One is to attain the rated capacity, second is increase the capacity by 10 percent, and third is to water efficiency,” the NPC official said.
He said the government will choose the best option. “When the government has chosen what action to take, then we will conduct the feasibility study for 48 weeks. So, hopefully, by April 2020, we can implement the project because by then, the feasibility study will be finished.”
Earlier, the Department of Finance, which chairs the Power Sectore Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., said it wants to tap funds from China for the rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui hydropower complex.