Ashurst Perkins Coie advised The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. on its investment of a 14% equity stake in PMJVCo Holdings Inc., the Prime Infrastructure subsidiary that owns and operates the 600 MW Wawa Pumped Storage Hydropower Project in the Philippines.
The investment marks Kansai Electric’s first pumped storage hydropower project outside Japan, bringing its total attributable overseas generation capacity to approximately 2,500 MW. The Wawa project has a maximum generation capacity of 600 MW and has been designated by the Department of Energy as an energy project of national significance. Designed as a variable-speed pumped storage facility, it is expected to provide up to 6,000 MW per hour of daily energy storage to help stabilize the grid and support the integration of additional renewable energy capacity.
Lead partner Kok Jin Ong commented: “We are very proud to have supported Kansai Electric on this transaction, which reflects growing cross-border interest in pumped storage capacity in the Philippines and its underlying role in supporting the broader shift toward renewable energy integration.”
The Ashurst Perkins Coie team was led by partner Kok Jin Ong, assisted by partner Jean-Louis Neves Mandelli, and associates Samantha Lim and Aimi Tran, drawing on the firm’s recent and ongoing experience advising on energy and infrastructure transactions, in particular in the hydropower and renewables space, in the Philippines.
