San Miguel Corp. plans to convert the San Roque hydro multipurpose power project in San Miguel, Pangasinan province into pumped hydro to increase its output.
San Miguel president Ramon Ang said the company as the independent power producer administrator was also preparing plans as the future owner of the facility. The government still owns the 345-megawatt San Roque hydro project,
“We cannot touch that yet because PSALM (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.) still owns it but we have started to plan for it. Once we have fully paid PSALM, we can now convert San Roque to pumped hydro and produce 1,200 MW,” Ang said.
SMC unit Strategic Power Development Corp. successfully bid for the IPPA contract of the San Roque hydro power plant and received a notice of award on December 28, 2009.
SPDC assumed administration of the San Roque Power Plant on January 26, 2010.
The San Roque power project is a peaking plant constructed by a consortium composed of Marubeni Corp., Sithe Philippines Holdings Inc. and Italian-Thai Development Public Issuer Ltd.