QPPL mulls additional capacity  for Mauban power plant

To keep up with the growing power demand, Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. Co.(QPPL) may consider adding another 500 megawatts to its 460-MW coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon.

Government documents show that QPPL has started getting regulatory approval from different government agencies.

In June last year, QPPL obtained an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and in September last year, it received the final system impact study of its planned expansion from the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo).

The Mauban power plant is the first build-own-operate power project in the Philippines, and the first one to be financed without government or sovereign guarantees.

The coal facility was built to help address a major power crisis that hit the Philippines in the late 1990s, and was the first private sector generation facility in the Philippines to sell power to a privately owned utility.

QPPL is a partnership among US-based InterGen, Ogden Energy Group, Global Power Investments, and PMR Limited. The plant was financed with approximately $809 million in debt and equity including political risk guarantees of $405 million from the US Export-Import bank.

The coal-fired power plant started commercial operations in May 2000.

At present, it provides stable and reliable electricity to the Luzon grid under a 25-year power sales agreement with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

It currently occupies 87 hectares in the municipality of Mauban, Quezon with a 31-kilometer transmission line that links into the national transmission network.