SCPC to contest fine for outages

BY LENIE LECTURA – FEBRUARY 3, 2022
from Business Mirror

www.semcalacapower.ph

Consunji-led Sem-Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) said Thursday it would contest the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which found the former liable for breaching maximum allowable plant outage days.

“While SCPC has not received a copy of the official resolution, it intends to appeal this Decision by filing a Motion for Reconsideration with the ERC,” it said.

In the said decision, which was promulgated last January 28, SCPC was fined P337,200.00 for allegedly exceeding the number of allowed unplanned outages by 5.24 days for Unit 1; and P3,975,600.00 for allegedly exceeding the number of allowed unplanned outages by 96.2 days for Unit 2.

SCPC’s units 1 and 2 are pulverized coal power plant. The ERC has set the maximum allowable unplanned outage days for coal plants for 16.8 days.

The ERC said, “SCPC has been remiss in its obligations which eventually led to Units 1 and 2’s forced outage beyond the maximum allowable limit. In light of the foregoing, the Commission finds that SCPC committed a violation of ERC Resolution No. 10, Series of 2020.”

SCPC contends that Unit 2 failure was totally unexpected with the addition of COVID-19 making it more difficult to repair the generator thus, it should fall under force majeure.

For unit 1, SCPC argued that the boiler tube leaks and other boiler-related damages in its unit 1 that resulted in repeated unplanned outages are considered unavoidable.