WHAUP expands its water and power business for long-term growth
WHA Utilities and Power PLC (WHAUP) reported a 189.8 per cent rise in net profit year on year (YoY) in the second quarter due to the expansion of its water business and return to full operation of GHECO-One after planned maintenance.
The company reported a net profit of Bt857.5 million, adding it has already secured funding for its water supply project in Vietnam.
Currently, the solar rooftop business is close to meeting its 15MW target. Retail Natural Gas Distribution in the WHA Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate 4 (WHA ESIE 4) with the capacity of 2 million BTU per year has gone commercial since June.
WHAUP chief executive officer Wisate Chungwatana said the company’s total revenue of Bt934.5 million was a 10.5 per cent increase YoY, and profit sharing from investment was Bt1.091 billion, up 20.5 per cent YoY.
In the power business, the Gulf NLL2 power plant achieved commercial operation date (COD) in January with an installed capacity of 127MW, representing 32 Equity MW. WHAUP’s total capacity at the end of the second quarter stood at 554 Equity MW under operation.
In the solar rooftop business, WHAUP currently has signed 13.9MW in 2019, close to its target of 15MW. It has achieved COD of 7.1MW and 20.3MW is under construction with the COD scheduled for the third quarter of this year to the first quarter of 2020. Apart from this, the waste-to-energy power plant with 8.63MW aims to achieve COD in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the natural gas distribution business of WHA Eastern Seaboard NGD 4 achieved COD in June with capacity to distribute natural gas of 2,000,000 million BTU per year. This is the second natural gas distribution project after the commercial success of retail natural gas distribution for WHA Eastern Seaboard NGD 2 late last year.
Recently, the company signed a contract with Global Power Synergy Pcl (GPSC) with an initial order of 1.5 million cubic metres per year for demineralised water. In addition, the company has also signed a sale contract for clarified water with GC Oxyrane Co. Ltd (GCO), a manufacturer and distributor of propylene-oxide, which has water demand around 3.6 million cubic metres per year. It also entered a contract with GC Polyols Co Ltd (GCP), a manufacturer and distributor of polyether polyols, which has water demand of about 0.3 million cubic metres per year
The company’s board on Thursday (August 8) approved investment in water supply in Vietnam, the first investment in a household water project by the company. The company views the investment in this project has the potential to grow in the future, apart from the production capacity of the projects that have already started commercial operation and are under construction.
