The island province of Mindoro could become a major renewable energy hub under Philippine conglomerate DMCI Holdings’ rural development strategy, with plans to tap power from massive wind and solar projects in nearby Semirara Island.

DMCI Chairman and President Isidro Consunji said Friday the company envisions connecting Semirara’s planned renewable energy facilities — with a potential combined capacity of over 2,000 megawatts — to Mindoro’s power grid.

“Hopefully we can connect Semirara to Mindoro so even if coal is gone, we’d still have renewable energy. That’s one of our dreams,” Consunji told a Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines conference.

The move is DMCI’s strategic shift toward agriculture and renewable energy over the next decade.

Consunji said the Consunji family and DMCI would focus on converting idle land into productive farms, expanding off-grid and renewable power, and encouraging private investment in agriculture, a sector he said has been long neglected by capital markets.

“Our goal is to develop marginal land, which is denuded, logged-over land, where there are very few economic activities, and turning idle land into real livelihoods,” he said.

DMCI Holdings is one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, with interests in coal mining, power generation, construction, real estate, and water infrastructure.

The publicly listed firm is controlled by the Consunji family, one of the country’s most prominent business dynasties.

Semirara Island, located in Antique province, hosts the country’s largest coal mine, operated by DMCI’s subsidiary Semirara Mining and Power Corp.

The island has been the backbone of the company’s energy business for decades, supplying coal to power plants across the country.

DMCI is positioning Semirara as a future renewable energy site, leveraging the island’s wind and solar potential to sustain its energy operations beyond coal.

The company is also evaluating a new baseload plant in Palawan to support growing demand and further stabilize off-grid power supply.