Stock News 2012: DMCI unit to build Palawan power plant

Photo of a coal-fired power plant in Shuozhou, Shanxi, China Français: Centrale au charbon, Shuozhou, Shanxi (Chine) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Three new coal-fired power plants will be built in Palawan to cater to growing demand in the province, a company official said.

“DMCI Power was announced yesterday as the winning bidder for the 25-megawatt (MW) power plant of Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO),” the company said in a disclosure.

The power firm submitted the lowest bid, with true cost generation rate at P9.38 per kilowatt-hour, it added.

“Required capacity is 25 MW by September next year. We will put up the diesel-fueled power plant in Palawan,” DMCI Power president Nestor Davidas said in a phone interview.

Davidas said the company prefers coal-fired power plants but Palawan is already in need of additional power supply.

Early this month, the Puerto Princesa city council declared a state of emergency given power outages in the province.

DMCI Power, for its part, will build coal-fired power plants in Palawan due to high operating costs of the diesel plant.

Davidas said DMCI Power will start commercial operations of a 15-MW coal plant in October 2014. Another 15-MW power plant will start producing electricity in 2017.

Davidas said the company is also looking for a third 15-MW facility that will use the “circulating fluidized bed” technology that is more environment friendly.

The Consunjis earlier announced their plan to put up 7.5-MW coal-fired power plant in the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) areas.

State-run National Power Corp.’s unit SPUG is mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to undertake the electrification of remote villages or areas not connected to the main transmission grid in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

There are 14 areas under SPUG including Catanduanes, Romblon, Siquijor, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan that are under review prior to privatization.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=66&articleId=828874

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Stock News 2012: Telecom industry to remain competitive

The PLDT Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The telecommunications industry is expected to remain very competitive, more so that competition will come not only from existing and new telcos but also from services offered by  “over the top” players of the Internet world, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) group chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

During the company’s stockholders’ meeting, he noted that players like Facebook, Google and Apple directly compete with PLDT’s traditional services.

“The radical changes that digital technologies are bringing to the telecoms industry will become more pervasive and profound in the next few years,” Pangilinan said.

He emphasized that these forces are changing the face of communications — from keypads and keyboards to touch screens of various sizes. “Increasingly, people are communicating with each other through smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs. From voice and text, connections whether wired or wireless are becoming broadband and multimedia. In five years, the market will, in growing numbers, be populated by ‘digital natives’ — young people who have grown up with mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,” he added.

Pangilinan revealed that the PLDT of the emerging digital future will be one of many touchscreens, and will offer and support a wide range of services beyond basic communications.

“We will help people enjoy entertainment, use financial services, manage their energy needs at home and office, take care of their health,” he said.

Pangilinan also revealed that since having being acquired by the PLDT group, Sun Cellular has been improving its coverage, starting with Mindanao where it has strengthened its signal in Lanao del Norte and Sur, Basilan, Camiguin, Tawi-tawi, Sulu, Bukidnon, Compostela Valley, and Davao del Sur. This was followed by Luzon in areas like Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga Apayao and Mountain Province, Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Vizcaya, Aurora, and Quirino, and in the Visayan islands of Panay and Bohol.

In maximizing the synergies among PLDT, Smart, Digitel and Sun, Pangilinan noted that they have rationalized the group’s network rollout by minimizing duplication which has resulted in reducing capital expenditure by P8 billion

He revealed that by the end of this month, they will have completed the installation in every cellsite of Smart all over the country a new generation of base station equipment. This will allow the group to quickly upgrade to the latest mobile phone technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE, as and when their plans and market demand requires.

Within this year, he said that they will have upgraded their transport network with over 54,000 km of fiber optic cable assets that will allow the group to carry up to 10 times more data to handle the rapidly growing traffic in voice, SMS and data traffic. In addition, PLDT will be installing its third and fourth cable landing station to enhance international cable links. The company will also finish the upgrade of its core networks and backroom facilities for both fixed and mobile by yearend

All this, he stressed, will require an investment of about P38 billion this year, bringing  the total bill for PLDT’s modernization program to about P67 billion.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=818220&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2012: DMCI Power eyes off-grid Napocor areas

Can you identify these buildings? (Photo credit: nina_theevilone)
DMCI Power Corp., the power generation unit of the Consunji Group, is eyeing to participate in the privatization of the National Power Corp.’s Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) this year, a company official said.

DMCI Power chairman Isidro Consunji said the company intends to help in energizing the SPUG areas.

“Our focus this year is on [Napocor] SPUG areas. We will bid as much as possible,” he said.

Napocor is targeting to intensify its privatization efforts starting the first quarter of this year, with the two areas being eyed for privatization to include parts of Mindoro and Palawan.

Napocor-SPUG is mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act to provide electricity to remote islands and far-flung, inland barangays that are not connected to any of the main grids, after around 90 percent of its generating assets have been privatized.

The competitive selection process for Napocor-SPUG’s off-grid areas is part of the major reforms in the power sector.

It provides an opportunity for private investors to build, own and operate generation facilities to supply missionary or far-flung areas.

Earlier, Napocor president Froilan Tampinco said they would offer to power generation investors the remaining 12 SPUG areas.

There were 14 SPUG areas previously offered for private sector participation: Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, mainland Palawan, Catanduanes, Bantayan, Masbate, Tablas, Romblon, Camotes, Siquijor, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Sulu.

Tampinco said they would also privatize the SPUG areas in Catanduanes, Romblon, Tablas and Siquijor after the Palawan and Mindoro bidding.

But the Napocor executive admitted that they would have to put the least priority to “more difficult areas” such as Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=764301&publicationSubCategoryId=66