AboitizPower starts rehab work of Naga, Cebu plant

By Lenie Lectura – January 18, 2019
from Business Mirror

ABOITIZ  Power Corp. (AboitizPower) has started rehabilitation works on one of the four units of the Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) in Cebu.

“We started the rehabilitation, and with that, one unit will be available before the end of February,” Aboitiz Power COO Emmanuel Rubio said.

The NPPC is composed of diesel and coal power units with a combined capacity of 153.1 megawatts (MW). However, when AboitizPower took over the facility, there was no more coal plant, thus the capacity was reduced to 40 MW.

Rubio said last year the company would have wanted two units to be operational in February 2019 and the remaining units by the second half of next year.

A capital expenditure of P892 million was set aside for the rehabilitation.

There are no immediate plans to expand the NPPC capacity, since another of the company’s power facility, also in Cebu, will be operational soon.

“I want to make sure we service the ancillary service requirements, and I am commissioning a 300-MW plant down the road. So, I want to make sure that NPPC serves a different purpose than the one in Toledo,” explained Rubio, who was referring to the 340-MW Therma Visayas baseload power plant in Toledo City, Cebu.

NPPC, once the subject of a legal dispute, was physically turned over and accepted by AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Power Visayas Inc. (TPVI) in July last year.

NPPC was turned over to TPVI after it offered a bid of P1.088 billion. However, SPC Power Corp. exercised its right to top and matched the bid with an additional P54 million or a total of P1.143 billion.

The government, through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), awarded the contract to SPC, despite TPVI’s objections.

A petition with the Supreme Court was then filed seeking to enjoin PSALM from awarding the Naga plant on the grounds that SPC’s right to top was void. The SC reinstated the notice of award to TPVI.