SINGAPORE—Meralco PowerGen Corp., the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. is in talks with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for its coal plant expansion in Quezon province and Toledo City, Cebu with a combined capacity of 1,280 megawatts to help boost the country’s baseload power requirement..
Meralco PowerGen president and chief executive Emmanuel Rubio said they are seeking a certificate of exemption from the coal ban from the Department of Energy for the 1,200-megawatt Atimonan ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant of high efficiency-low emission and the 80-MW Toledo subcritical coal-fired power plant.
Atimonan One Energy Inc. is developing the Atimonan coal project, while Toledo Power Co. (TPC) is developing the Toledo coal plant, an expansion of the existing 82-MW coal-fired project in Daanglungsod, Toledo City. TPC is under Global Business Power Corp., the thermal subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp.
Rubio said they are optimistic on the issuance of the certificate of exemption from DOE as these plants have existing ECCs, and the country needs additional baseload capacity.
He said that while waiting for the certificate, they were talking to potential EPC and equipment suppliers for the two coal plants.
“We have two candidates in Atimonan, and so far we have one sure candidate for Toledo which was the original supplier, Formosa Heavy Industries. We have budgetary numbers. We’re running the numbers to see if it could be viable and competitive. Then if you can do that, probably go for a board approval by February and then we look for a CSP where we can participate,” Rubio said.
He said the expected board approval in February would allow the projects to proceed to the next stage, which involves feasibility study and engineering works, among others.
Rubio said two EPC contractors expressed interest in the Atimonan plant, while Formosa Heavy Industries is interested in the Toledo plant.
He said four local banks also expressed interest to participate in funding the coal projects.
MGen has a total power generation gross capacity of 2,425 MW that utilize coal, liquified natural gas, diesel and solar technologies that are capable of supplying base, intermediate, peak load and ancillary support. Of the total, 1,395 MW are baseload coal plants.
MGen plans to add 1,500 MW of renewable energy to its generation portfolio.
