First Gen keen on Agus-Pulangi hydropower rehab

Lopez family-led First Gen is keen on participating in the rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex. First Gen vice president Jay Joel Soriano, who also heads strategy and planning, said hydro energy was “a nice complement” to other renewable sources, like geothermal, solar and wind energy.

“We need the right mix of technologies. I think, to support all the solar that’s coming up, we need balancing technologies. And hydro is a great balancing technology,” he said. “So any opportunity that comes up, for sure we will study it seriously,” Soriano added.

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) president and CEO Edward Dela Serna previously said that they had received “a number of unsolicited proposals” for the planned rehabilitation of the power plant complex in Mindanao. However, he told Inquirer that Psalm was initially focused on the rehabilitation of the plant. The complex, which consists of seven run-of-river hydroelectric power plants, has a combined capacity of about 1,000 MW.