First Gen Corp., the power generation unit of the Lopez Group, said Monday it booked P12.4 billion ($252 million) in recurring net income attributable to equity holders from the operations of its 3,495 megawatt clean, low-carbon and renewable portfolio.
It said the amount was nearly unchanged from its 2020 earnings.
First Gen said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it benefited from higher electricity sales from natural gas and hydroelectric platforms and from higher Wholesale Electricity Spot Market prices last year. These were offset by lower earnings from Energy Development Corp. because of generation and steam issues.
“First Gen generated higher revenues in 2021 as we saw power demand recover to pre-pandemic levels. Unfortunately, revenue growth was also an effect of higher fuel prices experienced all over the world and the supply restrictions in the grid that reflected in high spot market prices,” First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said.
He said the gas-fired plants ran on liquid fuel to ensure adequate supply for the grid.
“We are working to address gas supply uncertainty and are confident this will be addressed once our LNG import terminal operates this year,” Puno said.
The natural gas platform delivered an 8-percent increase in recurring earnings to P9.7 billion ($198 million) last year, up from P9.2 billion ($184 million) in 2020.
The 97-MW Avion power plant benefitted from high electricity sales in the early part of the year even if it had its share of plant damage issues in 2021.
Avion’s Unit 2 was discovered to have incurred damage in its gas compressor in August and was restored to full commercial operation by late October.
Avion’s Unit 1 was discovered in December to have incurred damage but was brought back to operations by February this year.
Meanwhile, the older natural gas-fired plants—the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo, reaped the benefits of lower income tax rates under the CREATE Law and lower interest expenses from regular debt service payments.
These were partially offset by lower operating income from the 420-MW San Gabriel power plant due to outages and higher replacement power.
The gas platform posted attributable net income to parent of P9.8 billion ($199 million) in 2021, up from P9.3 billion ($187 million) in 2020.
EDC contributed recurring attributable earnings from its geothermal, wind and solar platform amounting to P4 billion ($82 million) in 2021, or 8 percent lower than its recurring income of P4.5 billion (US$90 million) in 2020.
First Gen said that despite generating higher revenues, EDC incurred higher power plant and steamfield maintenance expenses in 2021 as it made up for deferred activities from 2020.