Filinvest Development Corp. is joining the renewable energy bandwagon with investments in solar rooftop projects, its top executive said Tuesday.
FDC president and chief executive Josephine Gotianun-Yap said they were "definitely pursuing renewable energy projects."
"We have about 56 megawatts of renewable energy projects that we are running after…We are also doing solar rooftop projects for major industrial clients," Gotianun-Yap said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines mid-year economic forum.
FDC;s subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc. is engaged in the power generation business. FDCUI operates a 405-megawatt power plant with circulating fluidized bed clean coal technology at the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corp. Industrial Estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
"We have about 4.3 megawatts of solar rooftop projects that are currently being done. Definitely, as solar power becomes much more competitive now and later on, when battery also becomes more viable and you can switch to baseload power being provided by solar with the combination of battery," Gotianun-Yap said.
She said they were looking at 56 MW of solar farms at different stages of development.
"I think that we will make separate announcement for each of the projects you know at different points in time," she said.
She said the company has partnership with French energy firm Engie.
Based on company records, Filinvest Engie Renewable Energy Enterprise Inc., a joint venture company with Engie Services Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., was incorporated on Nov. 22, 2018 to engage in the installation and operation of renewable energy facilities, particularly solar rooftop projects. It is 60-percent owned by FDCUI and 40 percent by Engie.
"I think our budgets are quite flexible based on being able to get certain projects or offtake agreements," Gotianun-Yap said.
FDCUI, through subsidiary FREE, is finalizing several contracts to install and operate solar rooftop facilities for various commercial users.
FDC is also looking to develop a 26-MW hydropower plant in Pampanga River and a biomass cogeneration plant, it said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.