No plan to expand Sual - TeaM Energy

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese-owned TeaM Energy Corp. said there are no plans to expand the capacity of the 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sual, Pangasinan.

TeaM Energy president Federico Puno told reporters there are no talks yet with the new independent power producer (IPP) administrator of Sual, San Miguel Energy Corp., on any expansion plan.

“For San Miguel, there’s no discussion yet,” he said, adding that SMEC has other power plants to attend to.

He also noted that Sual’s expansion may be more complicated as it was built to accommodate only two units.

“It was built with just two units in line, so if we have to expand it we will have to expand the port, and all the other common facilities and we will have to buy more lands,” he said.

TeaM Energy also manages the Pagbilao power plant in partnership with the Aboitiz Group.

On Pagbilao, Puno said there would be room for additional capacity.

“Unlike Sual, Pagbilao it was designed for three units. So most of the common facilities can handle an additional unit,” he said.

Puno earlier said they intend to expand the capacity of the Pagbilao plant by another 350 MW.

He said they have been in discussions with the Aboitizes on plans of expanding Pagbilao. “For Pagbilao, there are preliminary discussions but we still have to do some study to actually determine when we will undertake the expansion and what type of plants,” he said.

Earlier, Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) said is willing to partner with TeaM Energy for the expansion of the 735-MW Pagbilao coal-run facility in Quezon.

Therma Luzon Inc, a subsidiary of APC, bagged the IPPA contract for the Pagbilao coal plant with its $691-million bid. As IPPA of Pagbilao, Therma Luzon will become the owner of the plant after 25 years.

A consortium composed of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Marubeni Corp. of Japan, TeaM Energy operates the Pagbilao coal plant under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the government.

Tepco and Marubeni acquired the assets of US energy firm Mirant Corp. in the Philippines in 2007, which included the Pagbilao and Sual coal plants.

Puno said TeaM Energy previously had the option to expand the capacity of the plants because state-owned National Power Corp. is not allowed to build new power plants under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.

Meanwhile, Puno said SMEC had already ensured the supply of coal at Sual.