Meralco PowerGen Corp., the power generation unit of distributor Manila Electric Co., is open to taking a foreign partner for its $2-billion 1,200-megawatt coal project in Atimonan, Quezon, a top executive said Wednesday.
Meralco PowerGen chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters while the company could undertake the project on its own, a joint venture partner would help spread the risks.
“From purely financial perspective, we don’t need a partner but it’s big, 1,200-MW, costing $2 billion, so [we should] spread the risk,” Pangilinan said.
“For Atimonan, we may need foreign partner so long as Meralco has majority stake,” he said.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the development of the Atimonan coal project was underway.
“We have engaged the experienced international engineering firm as co-owners and the EPC pre-qualification process has commenced. ECC application process has also started. This is well underway for development,” Reyes said.
Pangilinan said the company was still keen on developing a liquefied natural gas project despite the company’s decision to convert the Atimonan plant into a coal facility.
The Atimonan plant was initially planned to run on LNG and was eyed for completion in 2018 or 2019.
“On LNG, we’re looking at possibilities on the gas side. The reason we focused on coal is it’s cheaper,” Pangilinan said.
Meralco PowerGen is also working on other development activities for baseload and mid-merit coal power plants.
“We are talking to a number of parties, local investors who are interested in power plants. If they require off-take, our condition is we take a stake in the project,” Pangilinan said.
Meralco is eyeing around 2,700 MW of power generation projects in its portfolio.