Meralco PowerGen Corp. has spent P3.5 billion to date for the construction of two power projects, namely the 1,200-megawatt Atimonan coal plant in Quezon and the 600-MW Subic coal facility in Zambales province.
Meralco PowerGen officials said the company already invested P2.8 billion to ensure that the Subic coal project of Redondo Peninsula Energy was ready for construction.
“We spent P2.8 billion already for RP Energy,” Meralco PowerGen Corp. senior vice president Angelito Lantin said.
The company spent the balance of P700 million for the Atimonan project.
Meralco PowerGen president and chief executive officer Rogelio Singson said the company already spent billions of pesos to ensure the immediate readiness of the power project to the construction phase once the power supply agreements were approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Between the two, (those are) substantial investments in the power sector,” Singson said.
The first 300-MW phase of RP Energy is estimated to cost P41 billion to construction while the Atimonan coal project is estimated at around P107 billion.
Meralco PowerGen, the power generation unit of Manila Electric Co., owns Atimonan One Energy Inc., the project company of the 1,200-megawatt coal plant in Atimonan, Quezon.
Meralco PowerGen, meanwhile, controls a majority stake in RP Energy. Other shareholders of RP Energy are Therma Power Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.
“Two of our projects, Atimonan One Energy Inc. and Redondo Peninsula Energy are both shovel-ready to start construction. Beyond our apprehension regarding the price-and-period validity of our engineering, procurement and construction contracts and financing agreements, we are genuinely concerned about the power situation and the impact on the price in a supply-challenged environment, and we would like solutions to these,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes said earlier.
