Three natural gas power plants with a combined capacity of 750 megawatts are expected to start commercial operations in June and July, latest records from the Energy Department show.
Data showed the 100-MW San Gabriel Avion natural gas project of Prime Meridian Powergen Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Gen Corp. in Barangay Bolbok, Batangas was due for commercial operations by June.
Prime Meridian said earlier it terminated the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contracts with Istroenergo Group AS and its Philippine branch company Energy Project Completion Ltd. due to delays in project completion.
IEG is an engineering contractor based in Slovakia that was engaged by Prime Meridian to construct and commission the Avion plant which features General Electric LM6000 PC Sprint aeroderivative gas turbines with the capability to run on natural gas or liquid fuel. The Avion project is being built at a cost of $100 million to $150 million.
First NatGas Power Corp.’s 450-MW San Gabriel natural gas plant in Sta. Rita, Batangas is also due for commercial operations in June.
First Natgas is also a subsidiary of First Gen. The San Gabriel project is estimated to cost around $550 million to $600 million.
First Gen owns the existing 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo power plant in Batangas which utilizes natural gas from the Malampaya gas field in northwest Palawan.
The company also plans to put up a liquefied natural gas receiving, storage and regasification terminal to address the expected depletion of Malampaya natural gas by 2022.
Meanwhile, the department said the first 200-MW unit of Energy World Corp.’s combined cycle gas power plant was set for commercial operations by July.
Energy World is building a 600-MW natural gas power facility in Barangay Ibabang Plo, Grande Island, Pagbilao, Quezon.