Panasia Energy Inc. is investing P63 billion to build a 1,700-megawatt liquefied natural gas plant in Barangays Dela Paz Proper and Ilijan, Batangas City.
“Given the country’s rapidly growing economy, demand for power will outpace supply in the Philippines in the next years. The proposed project will help augment the demand for reliable and affordable baseload power supply,” PEI said in a filing with the Environment Department.
PEI is a subsidiary of Millennium Energy Inc., which owns and operates the 100-MW diesel-fired Millennium Gas Turbine Power Plant in Navotas Fishport Complex and the 540-MW oil-fired Bataan combined cycle power plant in Limay, Bataan.
PEI said the strong economic growth and increased demand exerted pressure on the Philippines’ energy sector but the power supply from existing power plants was not enough to meet such rising demand.
“The proposed project will not only supply enough electricity to Filipino households and businesses but will also contribute to national development,” it said.
PEI cited the increasing power demand as indicated in the Energy Department’s power and supply demand outlook for 2014-2020 which showed an average annual growth rate of 4 percent to 5 percent.
It said that with the expected commercial operations by 2024, the proposed project’s capacity of 1,700 MW would be made available to the Luzon grid
“With this projection, an additional capacity is needed on top of the already committed power projects. In order to address the gap, the PEI has proposed to install its project at Barangays Dela Paz Proper and Ilijan, Batangas City,” it said.
PEI said there was no other alternative site considered for the project other than the 60-hectare property in the boundary of the two barangays.
It said one of the considerations in the site selection is the proximity to the existing LNG pipeline of Shell Malampaya which currently utilizes gas from the Malampaya gas field.
The company said it would utilize a combined cycle gas turbine technology with higher efficiency and lower emission levels.
It did not say where it would source its gas, although a number of energy players earlier expressed interest to build LNG terminals in Batangas.