Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. is confident of completing the second unit of the coal-fired power plant of Sarangani Energy Corp. in Maasim, Sarangani province by the first quarter of next year.
National Grid Corp. of the Philippines committed to connect the new unit to the transmission network.
“They committed they will do the last mile… They agreed they will do it,” Alsons chairman Tomas Alcantara said over the weekend.
The power plant will have the capacity to produce up to 210 MW of electricity for southern and south central Mindanao.
The first 105-MW section of the plant began commercial operations in April 2016 while second 105-MW unit is expected to start operation in 2019.
Alsons earlier cited the delays in installing the facilities in the NGCP Klinan substation that would connect the second unit to the grid. The second unit is set to be completed in the first quarter next year.
Alsons chief financial officer Robert Yenko said the company programmed a capital expenditure budget of P9 billion this year, with the bulk to be spent for the completion of the second unit.
“Around P9 billion for the group, bulk for power… This year we will be completing bulk of SEC 2. That should be around… P7 billion,” Yenko said.
Yenko said the capex excluded some projects, including the 105-megawatt coal-fired plant of unit San Ramon Power Inc. and the 15-MW Siguil hydro project in Maasim, Sarangani, which are still due for construction late this year.
Yenko said Alsons expects to sign the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Siguil hydropower plant in the third quarter, while the SRPI power plant is due to start construction in the last quarter.
“We are looking to start construction (of SRPI) before the end of the year and we are targeting to operate this plant by 2021,”Alsons executive vice president and chief operating officer Tirso Santillan Jr. said.
SRPI’s coal plant in Barangay Talisay, Zamboanga City, is expected to start operations in 2021.
Santillan said Alsons was looking at diesel expansion opportunities in Eastern Visayas to serve the region’s ancillary or reserve market.