Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said over the weekend it will re-start the operations of its 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas power plant next month after the commissioning of Linseed Field Corp.’s liquefied natural gas terminal in Batangas province.
SMC president Ramon Ang said the first LNG cargo would soon arrive at Linseed’s LNG terminal in Ilijan, Batangas.
Ang said the commissioning of the natural gas terminal would start this week and would take about a month to be completed.
“So, that fuel can already fuel the 1,200 MW. And then 1,300 MW additional power plant capacity will be online next year. So, in total, [it would be] 2,500 MW,” Ang said.
SMC’s South Premiere Power Corp. operates the Ilijan gas plant. The plant did not operate for several months.
“In a month it [Ilijan power plant] will start running,” Ang said. He expressed hope that the plant could meet the increased electricity demand during the dry months.
Ang said the additional 1,300 MW LNG capacity would come in next year from SMC subsidiary Excellent Energy Resources Inc.
The Department of Energy earlier said two LNG terminals would be completed this year and would have no problem securing LNG despite the tight global supply forecasts.
Aside from Linseed, FGEN LNG Corp. is also expected to complete its terminal this year. FGEN LNG, a subsidiary of First Gen Corp., together with BW LNG providing LNG storage and regasification services, is looking at starting commercial operations by June.
The DOE approved seven LNG terminal projects including FGEN LNG and Linseed. Other companies developing LNG terminals are Luzon LNG Terminal Inc., Energy World Gas Operations Philippines Inc., Shell Energy Philippines Inc. and Vires Energy Corp.