Aboitiz Power aborts TMO plant’s disconnection from power grid
By Myrna M. Velasco – July 22, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation has backpedaled on plans to have its 242-megawatt Therma Mobile Inc. (TMO) plant disconnected from the grid, as it was able to secure an ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA) with system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
The company similarly aborted its earlier target to have the facility de-registered from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). TMO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power’s Therma Power Inc., the business unit managing the group’s thermal assets.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Aboitiz Power stated that it “notified the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that it has withdrawn its request for de-registration from the WESM and disconnection from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) system.”
To recall, the company previously lodged its bid for disconnection from the Meralco network and sought subsequent de-listing from the spot market – that was at the time when its power supply agreement with the country’s largest power utility failed to secure regulatory approval.
But developments shifted following the ancillary services supply deal it cornered from transmission firm NGCP.
That pact entails the supply of power that NGCP will be using in the operations of its transmission facilities so it could wheel power capacity to load customers efficiently and it could also serve end-users reliably.
Aboitiz Power indicated that “TMO and NGCP shall jointly file an application with the ERC for the approval of the ASPA.”
Ancillary services would refer to the power reserves that NGCP would need to procure from suppliers that will then satiate its various reserve requirements so it can ensure power quality and would be able to spare the grid from experiencing service interruptions or blackouts.
Aboitiz Power told the local bourse that “in the meantime, TMO will not de-register from WESM and continue its commercial operations.”
It was early last month when the Aboitiz firm notified Meralco that it decided to physically disconnect from its system and for it to de-register from the WESM supposedly by mid-July this year, in the absence of a regulator-approved contract that should have bound their business relationship.
