First Gen Corp., led by the Lopez family, said it is pursuing opportunities in the hydropower industry as it aims for a total of 13 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy capacity.
The company views hydro as a crucial complement to its growing solar and wind portfolio, according to a company executive.
“If you look at what we’ve been doing, Casecnan came up, we looked into it. CBK came up, we looked into it. Because hydro is a nice complement to geothermal, to solar and wind,” said First Gen vice president and head of strategy and planning Jay Joel Soriano.
First Gen, which operates power plants utilizing geothermal, solar, wind and natural gas, won the bidding for the 165-megawatt (MW) Casecnan hydroelectric power plant in 2024 with a $526-million offer, above the government’s minimum bid price. The acquisition allows the company to save time and costs compared to building a new facility.
The company also participated in the bidding for the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plants but lost to the Aboitiz Group.
Soriano cited the need for balancing technologies like hydro to support the incoming intermittent renewable capacity. The Green Energy Auction Program 5 is expected to usher in 3 GW of offshore wind, with thousands of megawatts of solar capacity also forecasted to come online.
“If everything is built, 3 GW of solar next year and about 1 GW the following year, that’s only in Luzon,” Soriano said.
He said solar power’s intermittency requires another technology to address the issue. “I think to support all the solar that’s coming up, we need balancing technologies. And hydro is a great balancing technology,” he said.
When asked about the potential concession of the Agus-Pulangi hydro plants, Soriano said the company would seriously study the matter.
“So any opportunity that comes up, for sure we will study it seriously,” he said.
Both the Casecnan and CBK projects were offered by the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.
First Gen’s other existing hydro facilities include the 132-MW Pantabangan-Masiway Hydro-Electric Power Plant, which features a dam and reservoir located near Casecnan.
The company is also constructing the 120-MW Aya pumped storage hydro project in Pantabangan, alongside other run-of-river hydro projects in Mindanao.
