Meralco Eyes Vietnam Power Project

The initial overseas investment plunge of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will likely be for power generation projects in Vietnam, according to company chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

 “Some of the companies we’ve talked to there (Vietnam) are involved in power generation … they have several projects that are on the burner so we are taking a look at the opportunities there,” he told reporters in a briefing.

He intimated that the major attraction for power investments in that jurisdiction is the guaranteed off-take arrangement with the state-owned VietNam Electricity or EVN.

“The advantage is there is an off-take arrangement under their existing regulatory regime through EVN (VietNam Electricity), which I assume is an agency under government which provides the off-take for power,” Pangilinan explained.

The scale of power projects under Vietnam blueprints are within the capacity ranges of 150 megawatts to 600MW. Meralco’s strategy though will be to partner with existing project proponents in that market.

“I think we’d take modest steps in Vietnam. Of course the numbers got to work for us, so as of the moment, we have no clue as to what numbers will work,” Pangilinan said.

He specified that the parties they are talking to in Vietnam are private enterprises, but the off-take or the purchase of the generated electricity will position state-owned EVN to underwrite power supply contracts.

“We’d take a significant minority in partnership with local partners, these are private enterprises. We don’t have first hand experience of how business operates in Vietnam, especially in the regulatory environment. So, it’s better to take certain baby steps first,” Pangilinan stressed.

https://www.mb.com.ph/articles/379435/meralco-eyes-vietnam-power-project#.UJFRJ7ExrNk