PHL’s first coal-fired plant with supercritical tech to be completed by September
By Lenie Lectura – May 2, 2019
from Business Mirror
THE country’s first coal-fired power plant to use supercritical technology is on track for completion in September this year.
“San Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL) is at 99.29-percent EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) accomplished and still tracking commercial operation date [COD] by end-September 2019. So, we expect full positive results by end 2020,” Meralco PowerGen (MGen) President Rogelio Singson said.
SBPL is a partnership between MGen and New Growth BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand.
It is constructing a 455-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon, worth P56.2 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. This project would bring in additional revenues to Meralco in 2020.
The plant’s capacity and energy are contracted to Meralco, pursuant to a 20-year power-supply agreement which is extendable for up to an additional five years.
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.
“Power generation will be our game changer. We are looking forward to September this year when Meralco finally reenters baseload power generation and can better assure customers in its strategic franchise area adequate, reliable and affordable power supply after our 455-MW SBPL coal plant comes on stream,” Singson said.
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.
MGen is also currently working on several opportunities in wind, solar and hydropower development.
In particular, MGen’s development and investment list of targeted projects is a total of 224-MW, land-based solar facilities that will be completed this year and in 2020.
Singson said the large renewable-energy requirement of distribution utilities (DUs) and electric cooperatives under the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is more than compelling reason for MGen to allocate resources into this area.
“We continue to pursue RE opportunities. There is going to be room for more RE because of RPS. We are confident there should be heavy project implementation by end of this year and hopefully, bigger capacity by next year,” Singson added.
The RPS policy of the Department of Energy (DOE) mandates power generators, distribution utilities and suppliers to source a specified portion of their electricity requirements from eligible RE resources.
MGen is targeting to scale up its RE portfolio to as much as 1,000 MW, mostly solar power, in the next three years.
