Aboitiz Power to finish Cebu plant this year

By Alena Mae S. Flores – August 22, 2018 at 07:25 pm
from manilastandard.net

Aboitiz Power Corp. is on track to complete a 300-megawatt coal power plant in Barangay Bato, Toledo City, Cebu late this year through unit Therma Visayas Inc.

Therma Visayas plans to start commercial operation of unit 1 by September and unit 2 by December, according to latest data from the Department of Energy.

Aboitiz Power president Antonio Moraza, however, said the company would determine the actual completion and commercial operations date shortly.

Aboitiz Power earlier said it planned to complete three plants this year, namely the 68.8-MW Manolo Fortich hydro plant in Bukidnon, 400-MW Pagbilao 3 coal plant, and the Therma Visayas coal plant.

Aboitiz Power plans to increase its attributable capacity to 4,000 MW by 2020, with new plants increasing the output to 3,600 MW to 3,700 MW this year.

Moraza earlier said open access was the best way to support the company’s expansion.

“The company looks forward to the continued drop in the threshold for contestable customers from the current 1 MW and above to 750 kilowatts, and eventually to 500 kW, in order to encourage more investors and assure the viability of the Philippine power industry,” he said.

Moraza said the company would to maximize the benefits of open access through a balanced portfolio of contracted and spot capacity, and contract majority of its base load and diesel capacity under price-stable bilateral contracts.

He said Aboitiz Power would offer most of its hydropower capacity for peaking and ancillary or reserves services.

“Doing it this way will minimize volatility while yielding the highest returns for its resources,” Moraza said.

Aboitiz Power is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution and retail electricity services.