CREC benefits from robust power sales

Construction magnate Edgar Saavedra-led firm Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) posted a 6-percent increase in its bottom line reaching P756 million, with strong power sales driving the growth in the first nine months of 2024.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, CREC said revenue had climbed 29 percent to P3.89 billion from P2.62 billion a year ago.

Electricity sales alone reached P2.85 billion, a 36-percent improvement from the same period last year, owing to higher demand from direct corporate and industrial clients, sales under the government’s feed-in-tariff program and through direct selling to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization stood at P1.22 billion, 8 percent up from P1.13 billion.

“Our electricity sales and trading arm continue to post significant growth, mainly attributed to an expanded customer base and higher contracted rates of renewing customers, a testament to our commitment to provide end-to-end energy solutions,” said CREC president and chief executive officer Oliver Tan.

Goal: 5GW in 5 years

“The progress of our 5-gigawatts (GW)-in-five-years goal will further boost our performance, with construction of our first GW of solar assets and development of our pipeline projects proceeding as planned,” he added.

Currently, its installed capacity is at 285 megawatt (MW) from its 10 solar power facilities.

In September, 13 green power projects of CREC were tagged by the government as projects of “national significance”, a status that can help the group speed up its permitting processes.

CREC also unveiled in October its plan to build wind projects through a joint venture with Levanta Renewables, a Singaporean firm backed by UK infrastructure investor Actis.

The company bagged these wind developments from the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auction Program in July 2023. The projects have a total capacity of 375 megawatts.