APC unit to supply power to Meralco

MANILA, Philippines - The Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) will be supplying power to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) starting this month.

In a statement, APC said its subsidiary Therma Luzon, Inc. (TLI) will provide Meralco an additional 95 megawatts (MW) of power starting this September.

Meralco had earlier requested for added power supply from its transition supply contract (TSC) with the National Power Corp. (Napocor), which the latter agreed to provide through its independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contract with TLI.

In August 2009, TLI won the contract for the generated output of the 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired power plant.

As part of the IPPA arrangement, TLI has contractual obligations to sell power under TSCs between Napocor and its offtakers, among them Meralco.

The additional capacity from TLI will be made available to Meralco at all hours, starting Sept. 23, 2010 until Dec. 31, 2011, or 12 months after the start of open access, whichever comes first.

Assuming the supply ends on Dec.31, 2011, APC by then shall have delivered 877,800 megawatt-hours to Meralco.

 “APC has always preferred selling its power via bilateral contracts at a fair and reasonable price.This paves the way for predictable revenues for the company,” said Luis Miguel Aboitiz, SVP for trading and marketing of Aboitiz Power.

APC is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, retail and power services.

APC is among the major producers of renewable energy in the country with several hydroelectric and geothermal assets in its generation portfolio. Energy Development Corp. of the Lopezes also boasts of being the leading renewable energy firm in the Philippines.

APC has non-renewable power plants throughout the country.

Like the Lopezes which has a stake at power utility distribution firm Meralco, APC owns and operates distribution utilities located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.