Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. will start construction of the 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Subic, Zambales in January next year, with plans to award the engineering, construction and procurement contract within the year, a top official said Wednesday.
“I think we break ground mid January. We’re going to award the EPC very soon,” Aboitiz Power Corp. president Antonio Moraza told reporters.
RP Energy is led by Meralco PowerGen Corp., the generation arm of Manila Electric Co. Its other shareholders are Aboitiz Power and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp., a unit of Taiwan Cogeneration Corp.
Sources said RP Energy would likely award the EPC contract to a Korean company.
Moraza said the P63-billion project was dependent on the availability of transmission lines.
RP Energy has already received the certificate of registration from the Board of Investments to proceed with the project.
“The registration entitles RPE to duty-free importation of equipment, materials and spares used for the power plant for a period of five years from date of registration. Also income tax holiday for four years from commercial operation,” RP Energy project development manager Joselito Lantin said earlier.
He said commercial operation was scheduled by late 2019 or early 2020.
Electricity generated by the project is covered by separate power supply agreements with Manila Electric Co. (225 MW) and Aboitiz Energy Solutions (75 MW).
The company has signed an amendment to the power plant site lease agreement and transmission line right-of-way lease arrangement with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in February.
RP Energy was initially supposed to put up a 600-MW coal plant but was forced to review its options due to transmission constraints.
Meralco PowerGen was supposed to start construction of the long-delayed power project last year following a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court. It faced new delays because of the transmission line and right-of-way constraints.
The Supreme Court dismissed the Writ of Kalikasan case filed by pro-environmentalist groups against the Subic coal plant and upheld the project’s Environmental Compliance Certificate and the lease and development agreement with the SBMA.