Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) said its board of directors approved the grant of a short-term bridge loan worth P900 million to its solar power subsidiary, Jobin-SQM Inc. (JSI).
The company said this enables JSI to begin developing its solar power plant expansion in Subic, earlier than the scheduled start by September this year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, NAC said the loan is subject to a 6 percent interest per annum and will be repaid by JSI on September 1, 2022.
NAC has been actively pursuing renewable energy projects as its other power subsidiary, Emerging Power Inc. (EPI), recently signed an agreement with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. to jointly develop, own, operate and maintain onshore renewable energy projects in the Philippines.
The EPI-Shell venture is targeting to build a capacity of as much as 1,000 megawatts (MW) by 2028, with ambitions to contribute up to 3,000 MW into the country’s renewable capacity by initially rolling out a series of projects in Luzon and Visayas.
The parties said focus will be on utility scale solar farms while also evaluating opportunities in onshore wind and energy storage systems. – Jed Macapagal