Trans-Asia profit quadruples in Q1

MANILA, Philippines – Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., the energy arm of the Phinma Group, more than quadrupled its first quarter net profit following the improvement in electricity sales volume from its power projects and contributions from joint ventures.

Trans-Asia said its consolidated net income of P265 million for the first quarter of 2016 was more than four times better than the P65 million posted during the same period in 2015.

Revenues increased seven percent from P2.91 billion to P3.13 billion on the back of a 26-percent jump in electricity sales volume.

The firm said the revenue improvement “was largely brought about by the successful operations of the company’s 54-megawatt (MW) wind farm located in San Lorenzo, Guimaras, through its fully owned subsidiary Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. (TAREC).”

The wind farm, which was completed last December 2014, delivered 45 gigawatt-hours of wind-powered electricity during the the period. TAREC was granted its feed-in-tariff certificate of compliance by the Energy Regulatory Commission in December 2015, which guarantees a feed-in-tariff of P7.40 per kilowatt hour for 20 years.

Trans-Asia also started commercially operating Power Barges 101 and 102 in February this year, contributing additional revenue for the company.

Power Barge 103, meanwhile, will commence commercial operations within the second half of the year, as it undergoes comprehensive rehabilitation work. 

Each barge is a 32-MW barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power station with four eight-MW identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units.

The company acquired the power barges from the government for P420 million after a negotiated deal with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

Other sources of revenues came from the continued operation of its existing power generation subsidiaries, namely Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp. (52 MW), CIPP Power Corp. (21 MW), One Subic Power Generation Corp. (116 MW) and Guimaras Power Plant (3.4 MW) which continue to sell to the WESM and provide ancillary power to the NGCP.

Aside from strong revenues, Trans-Asia said the first quarter income was enhanced by contributions from joint ventures Maibarara Geothermal Inc. and South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.

“Together, both units have a combined capacity of 270 MW, with SLTEC expected to provide continuous and reliable base load power to contribute to the country’s supply requirements,” the firm said.