Aboitiz Power, Jera launch training hub in Batangas
MALVAR, BATANGAS—Aboitiz Power Corp. has signaled a stronger partnership with Japanese energy giant Jera Co., starting off with a training facility in Batangas meant to address technological gaps in operating power generation assets.
Key officials from both companies introduced on Monday the Global Technical Center of Excellence (GTCOE), equipped with the latest technologies that could boost the knowledge of engineering talents on how to better perform in the power generation sector.
Some of the technologies demonstrated to the media and other guests included a power plant simulation, robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Executives from the Aboitiz group did not provide the specific cost of the project, but noted the technical hub was estimated at “tens of millions of pesos.”
“Our objective here in GTCOE is to jointly bridge what’s happening in the university to actually translate some of those skills and improve those skills to make it translatable in an industrial way,” Don Paulino, chief engineering and projects officer of AboitizPower Thermal Group, said during the inauguration ceremony.
For the first three years, Paulino said the facility would initially cater to employees from Aboitiz Power and Jera.
This second semester, he said the training center could accommodate about 100 students.
But the official said both groups were now working to secure partnership deals with schools for the short-term training courses.
“What we would like to also do is to make sure that we touch some of the universities—that [are] also in the area where we operate,” Paulino said.
More to come
Meanwhile, Paulino said Aboitiz Power was “doing a number of collaborations” with Jera, aside from the training courses.
“As you know, the Philippines is a major part of AboitizPower, but if you want to continue to expand and grow, it’s really to also grow internationally. And that’s why Jera continues to be a big part of that ecosystem where we partner,” he said.
AboitizPower has operations in power generation, distribution, retail electricity services and distributed energy.
Jera, meanwhile, is one of Japan’s leading power generators with businesses in liquefied natural gas upstream projects and fuel procurement. Through its subsidiary Jera Asia, it holds approximately 27 percent equity in Aboitiz Power.
