San Miguel unit drops coal projects in Quezon, Cebu

BY LENIE LECTURA – JULY 12, 2021
from Business Mirror

SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMCGP) has decided to drop new coal power projects to give way to renewable energy (RE) and gas power projects.

Over the weekend, the power arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said it would no longer pursue three clean-coal power plants with a capacity of 1,500megawatts (MW) in favor of new facilities that utilizes cleaner, RE sources.

Based on a July 1 letter from the Department of Energy (DOE), SMCGP said it discontinued the 600MW CFB (Circulating Fluidized Bed) coal-fired power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon; 600MW CFB coal plant in Sariaya, Quezon; and the 300MW coal plant in Malabuyoc, Cebu.

Also, a 300MW coal expansion project in Malita, Davao Oriental of SMC Consolidated Power Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMCGP, was “delisted” by the DOE.

Aside from the coal projects of SMCGP and its unit, the DOE said two more coal projects were delisted while one is being reviewed.

“Most of these projects have already been discontinued, while some are being reviewed if they merit an exemption from the coal moratorium advisory,” said DOE Electric Power Industry Management Bureau Director Mario Marasigan.

The DOE earlier declared a moratorium on endorsing new coal projects. Coal represents 57 percent of the country’s power generation mix last year, followed by RE at 21 percent, gas at 19 percent and oil at two percent. In terms of generating capacity, coal accounted for 42 percent, RE at 29 percent, oil at 16 percent and gas at 13 percent.

“We’re executing on our plans to move away from building new coal facilities, despite new technologies that make them cleaner. It’s a company direction that is in line with all the major sustainability initiatives we have undertaken these past couple of years,” SMC President Ramon S. Ang said in a statement.

SMCGP will add more renewables into its power portfolio utilizing technologies that will significantly cut its carbon footprint while continuously addressing the country’s need for reliable and affordable power.

“SMC has always maintained a diverse power portfolio utilizing renewables and traditional, but proven technologies. This is to ensure that as we transition to cleaner sources, we will not undermine our commitment to meet the growing demand for affordable and reliable energy,” added Ang.

The company has already started its transition to cleaner energy with its ongoing construction of 31 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities all over the country.

The BESS facilities—worth more than $1 billion—will have a total capacity of 1,000 MW and are set for completion this year until 2022. These, Ang said, represent SMC’s full-scale solution to fix power quality issues in the grid. More significantly, the project will allow for the integration of over 3,000 MW of intermittent renewable power sources to the grid.

As such, Ang said SMCGP will put up solar plants in combination with battery storage facilities at 10 locations throughout the country. These will be operational by 2023.

It has also lined up several hydroelectric power plants in Luzon.

The power firm is also gearing up to build a 1,300 MW liquified natural gas (LNG) combined cycle plant in Batangas City, which will provide clean and stable power to Meralco over the next 20 years, beginning 2024.

The facility will provide power at a very competitive price, cheaper than what modern coal plants in the country currently offer.

SMC is also set to build small-scale LNG plants in 8 to 10 islands in the Visayas and Mindanao regions to boost rural electrification.

“For several years now, we have been articulating our plans to move into cleaner and renewable power, and we would like to report to the public that now, these plans have not only taken shape but we have actually started implementing them,” said Ang.

In 2017, SMC discontinued it plastic bottled water business, effectively removing some 32 million plastic bottles a year, which would have ended up in landfills or bodies of water.

That same year, SMC also committed to reduce the total water consumption across the entire San Miguel group of companies by half.