By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, April 12 (PNA) — Japanese-firm Marubeni Corporation and Italian-firm Enel Green Power (EGP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create a joint-venture to develop renewable energy projects in the country.
”Enel Green Power and Japan-based Marubeni Corporation have signed a two year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in evaluating potential business opportunities in renewable projects mainly in the Asia-Pacific Region,” Enel Green said in a statement.
Enel Green added that it seeks to develop geothermal, wind, solar and hydro projects in the Philippines, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia.
The Italian company is only interested in projects in the development phase, adding that under construction and operation assets will not be included in their cooperation.
The MOU will also produce development agreements, which will set the structure of the projects.
EGP and Marubeni will establish a joint venture to build, own and operate the RE projects. EGP will hold the dominating stake for each project.
However, EGP had not indicated how much capacity it plans to build in the Asia-Pacific.
Aside from the joint venture, the two foreign firms will create a joint working group that will exchange information and data on project opportunities.
Francesco Venturini, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and General Manager of EGP, has expressed excitement in having Marubeni as its partner and working in the Asia-Pacific region.
”We are thrilled to partner with a major player such as Marubeni. The Asia-Pacific Region is a promising geography for Enel Green Power where we do not have an operational presence yet and through this agreement we are venturing into development opportunities across all renewable technologies in this area abundant with resources and growth potential,” he said.
Enel Green Power is a developer and operator of RE projects, with operations in Europe, America and Africa, having installed a power of 9,600 Megawatts (MW).
It has an energy output of 32 billion kilowatthours (kWh) from 740 power plants in 15 countries.
Marubeni Corporation, on the other hand, is engaged in energy, food, chemicals, mining, forestry, ICT and real estate businesses.
It had already established itself in the Philippine energy sector, with its subsidiary Team Energy (Philippines) Corporation, created through a partnership with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). (PNA)