MGen expects 200-MW renewables capacity in Q1

MERALCO PowerGen Corp. (MGen) expects to reach 200 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy by the first quarter of 2023.

“On the road to 1,500 MW with the ongoing construction of our projects, we will be at around 200 MW by [the] first quarter of 2023,” MGEN President and Chief Executive Officer Jaime T. Azurin said in a virtual briefing last week.

MGEN, the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), is targeting to build 1,500 MW of renewable energy in the next seven years.

In September, MGen subsidiary PH Renewables, Inc. secured a P2.65-billion loan for the construction of its 75-MW-alternating current (MWac) solar project in Baras, Rizal.

“For the Baras project, we expect to complete it by January 2023,” Mr. Azurin said.

The solar farm is scheduled to start operations by the first quarter of 2023. It will supply renewable energy to MPower, the local retail electricity arm of Meralco.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — A.E.O. Jose