Alsons, NGCP agree to connect Sarangani power plant to General Santos substation

By Lenie Lectura – May 27, 2018
from Business Mirror

ALSONS Consolidated Resources Inc. (Acri) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) have reportedly settled their dispute, paving the way for the commercial operation of the Sarangani power plant to proceed as scheduled next year.

This after the grid operator agreed to connect the power facility to its substation in General Santos, Acri Chairman and president Tomas Alcantara said.

“They committed to do the last mile.… They have agreed that they will do it,” he said after the company’s stockholders’ meeting last week.

Acri earlier wrote Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi to seek intervention in installing assets for the connection of Sarangani Energy Corp.’s (SEC) second unit of its 2×105 coal-fired power plant located in Maasim, Sarangani.

Alcantara said SEC has been requesting NGCP to be allowed to install the necessary facilities in the NGCP Klian substation to connect Phase II to the grid. The request had been pending for 15 months, until the Alcantara-led firm brought the matter to the Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission and National Transmission Corp. SEC is currently constructing Phase II of its 210-megawatt (MW) circulating fluidized bed coal-fired power plant and has set commercial operations on January 15, 2019. In order to meet the timetable, SEC has to ensure that every aspect of Phase II’s project is completed on time, including the connection to the grid, stated the letter signed by Acri CEO Tirso Santillan Jr.

Bulk of the company’s P9-billion capital expenditure (capex) this year has been set aside to fund SEC Phase II power project, Acri CFO Robert Yenko said.

“This year, we’re completing bulk of SEC2. So, that should be around P7 billion,” he said.

The $570-million SEC power plant is the single-largest power investment in Sarangani Province and the entire Region 12.

Yenko said the company may allocate P1 billion to partly finance its hydropower project along Siguil River in Sarangani province.

The 15.1-MW run-of-river hydroelectric power plant project, estimated to cost P3.9 billion, is targeted for completion by the second half of 2020. Construction is scheduled to commence within the third quarter of the year.

Acri will also tap up to ¥700 million from a Japanese government and take in Toyota Tsusho Corp. as a partner for the hydropower project.

The remaining amount for this year’s P9-billion capex will go to San Ramon Power Inc. (SRPI) baseload plant in Zamboanga City.

The SRPI plant will provide baseload power to Zamboanga City and other nearby areas. It is scheduled to commence commercial operations in 2021.

ACR currently operates four power facilities, with a combined capacity of 363 MW, in Mindanao. It targets to have a total capacity of 588 MW by 2021, which it said is equivalent to 25 percent of Mindanao’s projected peak-power demand by that year.