Meralco building modern coal plant

Atimonan One Energy Inc., controlled by Meralco PowerGen Corp., is set to build this year the country’s first so-called ultra supercritical coal-fired power plant  with a generation capacity of 1,200 megawatts in Atimonan, Quezon this year.

Manila Electric Co. president Oscar Reyes told reporters the move to upgrade the plant from a supercritical pulverized coal station aimed to address environmental and efficiency concerns.

“Ultra supercritical is the most fully efficient, most environmental friendly technology as far as coal-fired power plants are concerned. It’s more expensive but more efficient,” Reyes said.

Meralco PowerGen, Meralco’s power generation unit, is currently in talks with a prospective contractor for the engineering, procurement and construction phases of the plant.

Meralco PowerGen senior vice president Angelito Lantin said the company expects to complete the EPC negotiations by the second quarter.

“Site preparation works are targeted to start in mid 2017. Expected completion of unit 1 is late 2021,” Lantin said.

Company officials earlier said Meralco PowerGen was in discussions with “a number of potential partners, all with experience in development, construction and operations of super-critical coal-fired power plants, and a strong appetite for Philippine investments.”

Atimonan One has signed a 20-year power supply agreement with Meralco on the full output of the power plant. The supply contract is pending approval with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The project has received its environmental compliance certificate from the Environment Department on October 13, 2015.

The Atimonan plant is one of the several power projects with a combined output of 3,000 MW being lined up by Meralco PowerGen.