MGEN RENEWABLE ENERGY, INC. (MGreen) is planning to build a renewable energy (RE) plant in Indonesia to export and supply renewables to Singapore.
“We are right now looking into hopefully exporting renewables from Indonesia to Singapore because we have a Singapore plant,” Jaime T. Azurin, president and chief executive officer of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), told reporters last week.
MGreen is the renewable energy subsidiary of MGen, the power generation arm of listed electric distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
MGen owns 58% of PacificLight Power Pte. Ltd., which owns and operates a combined cycle turbine power plant in Jurong Island, Singapore.
Mr. Azurin explained that MGen has been eyeing Singapore because of its recognized electricity demand, which is not matched by the island’s limited land area. Meanwhile, the outer islands of Indonesia are only about “20 to 30 kilometers away” from Singapore.
“When you lay down the cable going to Singapore there will be issues, where is the jurisdiction from the Singapore government? We have been trying to develop that for the past years and hopefully, within the year something will come out of it,” he said.
Mr. Azurin said MGen is hoping to get an export permit from the Indonesian government for the project.
“It is very meticulous because you are passing through a cross border,” he said.
Mr. Azurin did not disclose the capacity of the power plant but he said it would be a “sizeable capacity” composed of solar power and battery because the undersea cable is expensive.
“Submarine cables are expensive, it has to be more than 300 megawatts (MW),” he said.
He noted that while the plant is not yet built, it will be owned by Pacific Light in partnership with an Indonesian company as an Indonesian license is also needed.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose