Aboitiz Renewables Inc. has assumed the P2.88-billion loan of San Carlos Sun Power Inc. from BDO Unibank Inc. that San Carlos used to fund the development of the 59-megawatt solar power plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental province.
Aboitiz Power disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday unit Aboitiz Renewables signed an agreement with BDO and Sacasun to assume the loan. The company did not disclose why it took the loan from San Carlos.
San Carlos is a joint venture company between Aboitiz Renewables and Sun Edison Philippines Helios BV (SunEdison).
San Carlos on December 10, 2015 signed an omnibus loan and security agreement with BDO to secure a funding of up to P3.7 billion to finance the project
Aboitiz Renewables is the holding company of Aboitiz Power’s investments in renewable energy.
The company last year issued default notices to joint venture partner Sun Edison over the San Carlos project.
Aboitiz Renewables issued default notices to SunEdison “because early this year, SunEdison’s parent company, Sun Edison Inc., filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.”
Aboitiz Power assured the public that it would exert all efforts to protect its interest.
“We are exercising our option based on the shareholder’s agreement with SunEdison,” Aboitiz Power president Antonio Moraza said earlier.
“The issuance of the default notices allows us to trigger the process aimed at protecting Sacasun,” he said.
Moraza assured stakeholders the company would remain committed to the solar project.
Aboitiz Power and Sun Edison have already completed the solar plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
The solar plant, the first for Aboitiz Power, is now delivering 82 gigawatt-hours a year of clean and renewable energy to the Visayas grid.
The project started delivering energy to the Visayas grid on March 9, 2016, or before the March 15 deadline imposed by the Energy Department for solar power projects qualified under the feed-in-tariff program.
The project, however, is not included in the list endorsed by the Energy Department to the Energy Regulatory Commission for the feed in tariff incentives of P8.69 per kilowatt-hour.
Moraza earlier said any expansion in the same site might no longer be feasible because of lack of available land.
“We would have to acquire or lease more land and am not sure if there is any available,” Moraza said.
He said any expansion even in other parts of the country would also need to wait for the government’s resolution excess solar power projects.
“Fit for solar is oversubscribed. Without FIT, solar is not viable… We will have to wait action of DoE. I’m sure they will find a resolution to the oversubscription,” Moraza said.
The San Carlos project sits on a 75-hectare property inside the San Carlos Ecozone in Barangay Punao, San Carlos City on the eastern side of Negros Island.
