ENERGY firm AboitizPower and its Thunder Consortium on Monday took over operations of the 797-megawatt Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant complex in Laguna, following a successful P36.27-billion privatization bid.
“Today’s turnover of the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan hydroelectric power plant marks a deliberate step toward an energy system that is steadier in operations, smarter in design, and ready for the future that we are building. [It is] a future where Filipinos can count on electricity that keeps pace with their needs and works without disruption. We thank the Thunder Consortium for taking on this responsibility with a clear commitment to long-term stewardship,” said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the turnover ceremony with Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corp. officers, and witnessed by Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Endo Kazuya, government officials, and representatives of the consortium partners.
Thunder Consortium — a partnership formed to acquire and operate major renewable energy assets in the Philippines — is led by AboitizPower, whose subsidiary, Aboitiz Renewables, Inc. (ARI) holds a 64-percent controlling stake in the group.
It has two partners, Sumitomo Corp., a global trading and business investment company from Japan, and Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-Power), a Japanese utility with a long operational history at the CBK site.
The CBK complex, which serves as a critical energy buffer for the Luzon power grid, is composed of the Caliraya hydroelectric power plant (39.37 MW), a conventional dam-type facility; Botocan (22.91 MW), a run-of-river facility; and Kalayaan I & II Pumped-Storage (734.36 MW combined), which acts as a massive “battery“ to balance energy supply and demand during peak hours.
“The CBK complex provides flexibility, stability, and resilience in a rapidly changing energy system, and will allow us to manage peaks in demand, support reserves, and integrate more renewable energy into the grid without compromising reliability. As we add more solar and wind into the system in the future, facilities like CBK become even more critical,“ AboitizPower chairman Sabin Aboitiz said at the turnover ceremony.
AboitizPower’s Monday share inched up by P0.25 to close at P42.25.
