Norway-based SN Power has announced that its joint venture with the Aboitiz Group, SN Aboitiz Power Benguet, has acquired the Ambuklao and Binga hydro power plants in the Philippines for $325 million.
The 75MW Ambuklao and the 100MW Binga plants, located in the Benguet Province in northern Luzon, were auctioned by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) as part of the Philippines’ privatization of power assets, writes Datamonitor.
SN Aboitiz Power Benguet (SNAPB) placed the winning bid in November 2007. The Ambuklao plant has not been operational since 1999, after it suffered damages in an earthquake.
The plants are reportedly in need of major rehabilitation and upgrade, which SNAPB estimates will increase the plants’ combined installed capacity to 225MW within the next few years.
Einar Stenstadvold, executive vice president for Asia at SN Power, said: “We will start rehabilitation of the plants immediately after the take over, and will ensure that the two plants become major suppliers of renewable energy into the Luzon grid in the coming years”.
