Ayala Corp, of the Zobel Family, announced that they are interest in investing in the emerging renewable energy industry in the Philippines given the opportunity. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, the current chairman and chief executive, said that it is their commitment to sustainable development and innovation that makes this investing in this sector appealing.
“We just can’t say we don’t want to venture into this industry because we need all these resources for the betterment of the people. There’s a better way of doing them. Our partners or the companies we plan to bring in are also demanding it,”
Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer, said the company’s goal of achieving sustainable development could have resulted in limited investment choices but believes those are “tough choices we need to make” to do business more responsibly.
The Ayala Group is one of the most reputable conglomerates in the Philippines today with vast investments and holdings in the real estate, manufacturing, automotive, electronics, telecommunications and financial sectors, to name a few. It was reported that they had long been interested in investing in the energy sector, but did not like the polluting coal fire power plants that were being offered up for auction by the Philippine government. It was also said that they were interested in investing in the Lopez Group’s Energy Development Corp (EDC) that is the leader in geothermal energy production in the Philippines.
With the passage of the Philippine Renewable Energy Act, that gives fiscal incentives and priority at the grid to operators of renewable energy power plants, it has opened up a mad rush of new investment prospects. It also gives hope that energy production will be done more cleanly and cheaply that will hopefully benefit both consumers and the environment and not leave the country at the mercy of high fossil fuel prices.
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Category: Clean Energy, Investing
