First Gen eyes add’l 1,342-MW capacity by 2019

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-owned power generation company First Gen Corp. is aiming to build an additional 1,342 megawatts in generation capacity between now and 2019 as it strengthens its operations in the Philippines to help meet growing demand and eventually become a global energy player, its top official said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.

First Gen chairman and chief executive officer Federico Lopez said the company is planning to build three new plants including the 100-MW Avion, the first power plant in the country using aeroderivative turbines.

 â€œIn all, our vision is to build an additional 1,342 MW between now and 2019,” Lopez said.

Aside from the Avion power plant, some of the new capacity will come from the 414-MW (first phase) San Gabriel combined cycle power plant, the 150-MW expansion of the Burgos wind project and 30 MW from the Puyo run-of-river hydroelectric power plant, said First Gen president Francis Giles Puno.

 â€œWe are also expanding across our portfolio to address growing demand for alternative sources of energy. In January 2014, we broke ground for what will be the 414-MW San Gabriel natural gas-fired power plant, which will provide critical additional power supply by 2016 and which is envisioned to be the most efficient gas-fired plant in Southeast Asia using the latest Siemens SGT6-8000H gas turbine technology,” Puno said.

The 100-MW Avion plant, meanwhile, is projected to help address additional power demand in the summer of 2015, Puno said.

“With foreseen supply constraints in the immediate term, we are also very excited about the fast-track 100-MW Avion power plant development using proven jet aeroderivative technology, which will be located adjacent to the existing Santa Rita power plant in Batangas City,” he said in his message to stockholders.

In a separate briefing after the meeting, Puno said the Avion facility is expected to be completed by March 2015, in time for the summer months.

Puno said the company is also targeting to become a major LNG (liquefied natural gas) player in the country.

“While the first unit of San Gabriel and the Avion projects will be fuelled by Malampaya-sourced natural gas, we also realize that the current gas supply contracts will expire in the next 10 years. It is for this reason that we are excited about the development of a regasification terminal for LNG – which aims to be the first LNG regasification terminal in the Philippines,” Puno said.

He said the company is hopeful of recovery this year and a much better year in 2015 after a challenging 2013, which was aggravated by the impact of Super Typhoon Yolanda. The typhoon damaged the assets of First Gen subsidiary EDC’s assets in Leyte.

“2015 looks very promising. If EDC (Energy Development Corp.) is looking at record-breaking profits, we would be the major beneficiary of that,” Puno said.

EDC officials said last week that the company expects to book a record-breaking profit next year, with its geothermal and wind power projects expected to go full blast starting next year.

He said that because the EDC’s plants are not yet fully back in commercial operations, first quarter profits may be lower in the first quarter of the year compared to year-ago figures.

First Gen operates the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas power plants in Batangas.