FGEN banks on hydro for P16-B annual returns by 2031

First Gen Corp. (FGEN) expects its pumped-storage hydro projects to contribute around P16 billion in annual earnings beginning 2031, as the Lopez-led energy company ramps up investments in renewable energy and long-duration storage.

At the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Thursday, FGEN President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno said the company has committed about P62 billion to develop around 2,000 megawatts (MW) of pumped-storage hydro capacity through projects such as Wawa and Pakil, in partnership with Prime Infrastructure.

“Beginning in 2031, these facilities are projected to contribute approximately Php16 billion annually to First Gen’s bottom line,” Puno said, referring to the projects’ 20-year contracted agreements under the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auction Program.

He added that the projected earnings contribution is “about three times the historical average contribution” of the company’s former 60-percent stake in its natural gas business.

Puno described the expansion as “one of the largest strategic investments in FGEN’s history.”

The projects are part of the company’s renewable energy play following the sale of stakes in its natural gas business to Prime Infrastructure last year. The company said the transaction allowed it to recycle capital into renewables. After the sale, around 92 percent of FGEN’s asset base consisted of renewable energy investments.

However, the divestment weighed on FGEN’s first-quarter earnings. In a regulatory filing early this month, the company said attributable net income fell 24 percent to P3.6 billion from P4.8 billion a year earlier, reflecting the sale’s impact.

The decline came despite a 32-percent rise in revenues to P15.3 billion, driven by higher electricity sales volumes, improved power prices, and stronger geothermal operations under Energy Development Corp. Following the transaction, FGEN now books only its 40-percent share in the operating natural gas plants and a 20-percent interest in the Interim Offshore LNG Terminal.

Beyond hydro storage, FGEN said it is also expanding its geothermal business, including the redevelopment of its Leyte facilities, with potential capacity exceeding 700 MW, and its partnership with Indonesia’s Sinar Mas to develop up to 440 MW of geothermal projects.

The company is also advancing a 54-MW Agri-PV solar project in Batangas and rehabilitating damaged turbines at its Burgos Wind Farm in Ilocos Norte.