Alsons revives Indonesia expansion plan

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
Updated May 29, 2017 – 12:00am
http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/05/29/1704465/alsons-revives-indonesia-expansion-plan

The company is exploring power investment opportunities in Sulawesi province in Indonesia “because of its proximity to Mindanao and encouraging information on infrastructure and economic development in the eastern part of Indonesia,” said Alsons chairman and president Tomas Alcantara.“The north Sulawesi area is 45 minutes away from Davao by plane. In fact, even by boat, General Santos to Cebu is double the distance of General Santos – Manado (North Sulawesi’s capital). That’s how close Indonesia is. We look at that as our natural market already,” he said.

Developing that part of the country will encourage migration and solve the over-population and high density issues in major cities.

“In Indonesia, you have the Java Sumatra area. The concentration of population is there, it is their Luzon. Now the Borneo, Sulawesi, New Guinea are all but forgotten. But there is a lot of potential there: it’s highly mineralized but it’s underpopulated and under-developed for infrastructure,” Alcantara said.

ACR is looking at fossil fuel-based power projects since it is indigenous in area, he said.

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of coal. According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the country ranks 10th globally, or has roughly 3.1 percent of the total global coal reserves.

“We are talking to our traditional partners. Toyota is already there. And then some Singaporean… but again we’re covered by non-disclosure agreement,” Alcantara said.

It was in 2012 when ACR first announced its plans to expand operations in Indonesia.

The group used to manage a diesel power plant in the country, said Oscar Benedict Contreras III, Alsons Power Head of Corporate Communications.

ACR unit Alto Power Management Corp. (APMC) provides management support to the 62.6-megawatt (MW) P.T. Makassar Power Corp. based in Indonesia.

APMC is owned by ACR and Toyota Tsusho Corp. of Japan, which acquired Tomen Corp. in April 2006. The firm is also into operations and management contracts overseas with Holcim and P.T. Makassar Power.

At present, ACR is operating a total of 363 MW in capacity.

At home, ACR is currently constructing the section 2 of the 210-megawatt (MW) Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani Province.

Within the year, the company also expects to begin construction of the 15-MW Siguil River run-of-river hydroelectric plant in Maasim, Sarangani; and the 105-MW San Ramon Power Inc. (SRPI) baseload coal-fired power plant in Talisayan, Zamboanga City.

It will soon undertake a solar power project in the General Santos-Sarangani area.

Once ongoing projects are completed, ACR-affiliated power facilities are expected to have a total generating capacity of 588 MW by the end of 2021. The said capacity will fulfill more than 25 percent of Mindanao’s projected peak power demand for that year.