Phinma Energy eyeing RE investments in CV

CEBU, Philippines — In its bid to boost its renewable energy portfolio, Phinma Energy expressed interest to invest in renewable energy plants in Cebu and other parts of the Visayas.

Phinma Group president and chief executive officer (CEO) Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., announced that the listed firm is interested to build RE plants here, and is looking initially at solar energy source.

In his recent visit to Cebu, Del Rosario said that there are a number of expansion possibilities that the group is looking at in Cebu, apart from its continuous investments in education, and plans to re-enter the cement manufacturing and hospitality business.

Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. (TAREC), a member of the Philippine Investment Management Inc. (Phinma) group, seeks to participate in the development of the country’s renewable energy resources.

At this time though, the group is still exploring possibilities of this plan, Del Rosario said.

In September last year, the firm said it has "entered into a solar service contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) which grants it the exclusive right to explore, develop, and utilize the solar energy resource in a 486-hectare area in the city of Lipa and municipality of Padre Garcia" in Batangas province.

Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corporation, the firm's renewable energy arm, currently operates a 54-MW wind power farm in San Lorenzo, Guimaras, which it previously indicated that it plans to expand should the DOE decide to reinstate the wind feed-in tariff.

Phinma Group is now the majority stakeholder of the Southwestern University previously owned by Cebu's Aznar family.

Phinma Energy is a company that started in oil and gas exploration 48 years ago. Originally, in the coal-fired power plant business, Phinma Energy started diversifying in 2005, seeing the huge potential of RE, particularly wind power and solar power.