Meralco-Egco partnership eyes transmission facility in Luzon
By Lenie Lectura – September 26, 2018
from Business Mirror
SAN Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL), a partnership between Meralco PowerGen (MGen) and New Growth BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (Egco Group) of Thailand, is seeking regulatory approval to construct a transmission facility that will connect its 500-megawatt (MW) coal plant to the Luzon grid.
In a 14-page application, SBPL put the cost to set up a dedicated facility project at P242,956,734.
SBPL proposed to develop and construct a dedicated point-to-point facility that will connect the coal plant to the Luzon grid through the Tayabas substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) by connecting to the existing QPPL (Quezon Power Philippines Limited Co.) connection asset, which comprises the Mauban substation and a 230-kilovolt transmission line.
According to the Energy Regulatory Commission, SBPL’s application is “sufficient in substance,” with the required fees having been paid. “The same is hereby set for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, pretrial conference and presentation of evidence on November 6,” the ERC said in its September 4 order. Last August, MGen said the construction of the country’s first coal-fired power plant in the country to use supercritical technology is 90-percent complete.
“SBPL is on its 31st month of EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] implementation with overall progress at almost 90 percent and is on track for project completion in September 2019,” said MGen President Rogelio Singson.
The company tapped the consortium of Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. as the EPC contractor for the project.
SBPL achieved financial close for the power project in December 2015 for a total debt of P42.1 billion.
The electricity to be generated by the plant will be sold to Meralco, the country’s largest distribution utility, under a 20-year power supply agreement. Singson added that this project would bring in additional revenues to Meralco in 2020.
The SBPL power plant will play a crucial role as electricity demand grows, especially in Luzon which accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
