SMC to reopen Ilijan plant by May 26

BY JAMES A. LOYOLA – Apr 28, 2023 03:53 PM
from Manila Bulletin

San Miguel Corporation, through its power arm SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP), is reintegrating its 1,200-MW Ilijan Natural Gas Plant to the national grid by May 26, 2023.

In a statement, the firm said this is seen to help provide stability in the power supply of the country amid the projected high demand in the summer months and in the coming years.

SMGP recently took delivery of the country’s first-ever liquefied natural gas cargo that will fuel its Ilijan power plant.

**SMC President and CEO Ramon S. Ang**

SMC President Ramon S. Ang said he is confident of meeting the target date following significant progress made in the ongoing construction of the country’s first LNG import terminal by leading global LNG terminals and downstream infrastructure firm Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific International Holdings (AG&P).

“With the reintegration of the Ilijan power plant into the power grid system, the country will be better assured of energy supply security these coming summer months and beyond,” said Ang.

He added that, “Hopefully, with all available power facilities operating–with no plants breaking down or going on unscheduled shutdown–we will have more than enough capacity for the rest of the year, and consumers will not have to experience brownouts or supply rotations.”

Since June last year, the Ilijan plant has been on extended outage and, in the meantime, is undergoing retrofitting works, following the ceasing of gas supply deliveries from the depleting Malampaya Natural Gas facility, operated by the SC38 consortium.

This, despite SMGP’s purchase of the remaining banked gas supply of government-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) for $1.2 billion, which remains undelivered to date, and the significant deration in Malampaya gas supply for the Ilijan plant under its original gas supply agreement, last year.

While the Ilijan plant has been on extended outage, the energy sector-and ultimately consumers–have been contending with tight power supply and higher prices. Ilijan has historically contributed up to 10 percent of Luzon’s net reliable capacity.

Ang said that its LNG shipment, 137,000 billion cubic meters (bcm) in all, had been waiting in a Floating Storage Unit (FSU) in Subic Bay pending completion of the full-scale LNG terminal, particularly its jetty facilities.

Following the jetty facilities’ recent completion, the FSU finally berthed and connected to the LNG terminal, marking the start of commissioning of the facility.

This involved the cooling down of the cryogenic lines of the facility, in preparation for the delivery of processed natural gas – which in turn will serve as fuel to the Ilijan plant.

The new terminal is the first of, hopefully, several to be opened in the Philippines starting this year, as the country ramps up importation of LNG as part of government’s efforts to ensure supply security, and transition to cleaner sources of power.

Located in Batangas Bay, the new LNG terminal it is flanked by the 1,200-MW Ilijan plant and the new 1,313-MW Batangas Combined Cycle Gas Plant, also owned by SMGP.