A PRIVATE energy firm has assured that there will be steady and reliable power on the island of Bantayan in northern Cebu, following the acquisition of shares from its partner aimed at expansion of its power generation in off-grid areas.
"As far as Bantayan, they can expect the same, reliable, steady, consistent power that they have been getting (from Isla Norte Energy Corp. or Inec) since we started our operations (in October 2021)," Emil Andre Garcia, president of Vivant Energy Corp., said in a virtual press conference during Vivant's annual stockholders' meeting on Thursday, June 15, 2023.
INEC has a 23.3 megawatt (MW) diesel power plant in Barangay Kabangbang.
Vivant Energy Corp. (Vivant Energy) and Vivant Integrated Diesel Corp. (VIDC), which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vivant Corp., have acquired 35 percent of the outstanding and issued shares and subscription rights of its partner Gigawatt Power Inc. in Inec.
This acquisition, approved by the board of directors on May 17, 2023, is seen to drive further expansion of its power generation in off-grid areas and remote communities.
Inec is composed of two 7.496 MW diesel engines and three 2.773 MW diesel engines, using environmentally compliant technology in energy generation from diesel engines.
The power plant has a 15-year power supply agreement
with Bantayan Island Electric Cooperative (Banelco) allowing the utility firm to distribute energy to meet more than half of the power needs of the island.
It also opens the island to more tourism investment with its pristine white-sand beaches.
Last year, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, citing the Department of Tourism, said tourism arrivals in the towns of Bantayan, Madridejos and Santa Fe on Bantayan Island reached more than 200,000 in 2018, after growing at an average annual rate of 49 percent from 2014 to 2018.
Banelco's customers are 95 percent residential, two percent commercial and three percent industrial.
Outlook
Publicly listed Vivant Corp. will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with the goal of strengthening its environment, social and governance (ESG) framework initiatives to ensure the sustainability of its business endeavors.
With this goal, Vivant Corp. continues to set its eyes on building more renewable energy (RE) facilities until 2030, when it expects 30 percent of its business portfolio to come from RE sources, Garcia added.
"Over the next seven years, we are investing up to P21 billion, specific for renewable energy. With that and what we have in our pipeline, we are confident that it (will) even exceed our 30 percent target timeline," the official said.
This will account for 75 percent of its total capital expenditures up to the year 2030.
Meanwhile, Vivant Energy Corp. president and chief executive officer Arlo Sarmiento said with the slowly waning effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the firm can now address the challenge of the growing energy demand in the country through RE.
This was evident in Vivant COREnergy with its growing rooftop solar business from two MW to six MW in 2022, an alternative energy solution for commercial and industrial establishments
It has a goal of 18 MW of solar rooftop generation capacity by the end of the year.
Vivant Corp. subsidiary Vivant Infracore Holdings Inc. (VIHI) is looking to invest P16 billion in water resource utilization and wastewater engineering over the next five years.
These opportunities will help many areas in the country address not only water supply challenges but also the threat posed by untreated wastewater on vital ecosystems, Vivant Infracore president and chief executive officer Jess Anthony Garcia said.
One of its investments is the water desalination plant in the town of Cordova on Mactan Island that will help meet the increasing water supply demand of Metro Cebu.
In June 2021, Vivant Corp. notified the Philippine Stock Exchange that the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) had awarded Vivant Hydrocore Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of VIHI, a 25-year bulk water supply agreement
Under MCWD's joint venture for the Cordova Bulk Water Supply Project with VHHI as the private sector proponent and Watermatic Philippines Corp. as its technical partner, VHHI will build a desalination plant that will provide MCWD with 20,000 cubic meters per day of treated and potable water. (EHP, with CTL)