and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno
By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter
FIRST GEN Corp. is diversifying its energy portfolio to satisfy the Philippines’ power demand, with a robust concentrate on renewable energy sources like geothermal and solar.
“We’ve been within the business for quite an extended time, and so, over time, our priorities have at all times adjusted,” First Gen President and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“And naturally, one among our big priorities is climate change. A part of our advocacy in climate change is to essentially promote renewable energy,” he added.
First Gen is a holding company for the facility generation and energy-related businesses of the listed conglomerate First Philippine Holdings Corp.
The corporate has a complete of three,668 megawatts (MW) of installed capability from its portfolio of plants that run on geothermal, wind, hydro, solar energy, and natural gas.
“Lots of our investments were originally in fossil fuels, particularly gas. We never invested in coal. But over the past a few years, our priority has been in geothermal,” Mr. Puno said.
“Hopefully, we are going to give you the option to deliver more capability next 12 months — to deliver more 24-hour baseload renewable energy to our consumers,” he said.
For 2025, the corporate has set a lower capital expenditure (capex) budget amounting to P35 billion, of which 90% shall be allocated to its renewable energy subsidiary Energy Development Corp.’s drilling activities and growth projects.
First Gen has set a P60-billion capex program, of which P30 billion is for drilling wells and one other P30 billion for constructing more geothermal power facilities, in addition to battery energy storage facilities.
“We’re spending so much on our well drilling program. But the opposite issue we’re facing is that our power plants above ground are quite old already,” he said. “So, we’re also attempting to work out the best way to make certain that we’re maximizing the steam capability of concessions matched with the suitable technology.”
First Gen has set a goal to expand its solar energy portfolio, with a portion of its capex allotted for the event of a 50-MW solar facility in Batangas.
“Straight away, we’re hoping that we will construct our largest solar investment, which shall be 50 MW, and that shall be the springboard for more solar expansion of the First Gen Group moving ahead,” Mr. Puno said.
Because the Philippines goals to shift to renewable energy, First Gen is banking on liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a transition fuel.
Currently, the corporate is integrating LNG with Malampaya natural gas for its gas-fired power plants.
“We’re also attempting to transition from full Malampaya operations to partially Malampaya, partly LNG,” Mr. Puno said.
“Because Malampaya is running out and is not any longer sufficient to deliver all of our gas-fired power needs, we would have liked to usher in LNG,” he added.
First Gen has 4 existing gas-fired power plants with a combined capability of two,017 MW within the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas.
Its subsidiary, FGEN LNG Corp., constructed an interim offshore LNG terminal and executed a five-year time charter party for BW Batangas to offer LNG storage and regasification services.
Mr. Puno said that proper implementation of policies is required because the country goes through “a really critical phase,” especially to deal with the feasibility of LNG for the country’s energy security.
“We now have to be more proactive in making good policies and regulations, but additionally to offer incentives for investors so we will herald more investments,” he said.
“In the event that they do it mistaken, then it would reduce the attractiveness for us to make those investments,” he added.
