FGen boosts hydro capacity plans

As hydropower assets delivered a substantial contribution to its nine-month profit, Lopez-led First Gen Corp. (FGen) is ramping up its hydropower capacity through the construction of a pumped-storage hydro plant and three run-of-river (ROR) plants.

- By GABRIELL CHRISTEL GALANG.

On the sidelines of the Third Philippine Hydro Summit and Exhibition, Dennis Gonzales, FGen’s senior vice president, shared that these project developments are currently undergoing permitting processes before entering their building phase, which will last approximately three years or more.

“There’s Aya [pumped-storage hydro], and then we have around three ROR plants in Mindanao. That’s also more than 100 [megawatts] as well. So, [there’s] roughly a little over 200 MW in the pipeline,” he told reporters in an interview on Wednesday, Nov. 19.