First Gas gets new transformer for Sta. Rita plant

MANILA, Philippines - First Gas Power Corp. a wholly-owned unit of Lopez-led First Gen Corp., expects its Santa Rita plant to operate at full capacity after replacing a damaged transformer for a 250-megawatt (MW) unit, a company disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said.

First Gas said it successfully installed a new 318 megavolt-ampere transformer for one of the four units of the Santa Rita natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Batangas City.

The transformer, which arrived at the port of Batangas City from Shanghai, China, will replace a similar piece of equipment that was damaged last February.

The damaged transformer rendered Unit 40 of Santa Rita inoperable and resulted in the loss of a quarter – or approximately 250 MW – of Santa Rita’s 1,000-MW supply of electricity to the Luzon grid.

Once completed, Santa Rita Unit 40 will resume operations and restore approximately 250 MW back to the Luzon grid. Earlier, the company projected to complete the installation by November this year.

The Sta. Rita plant currently supplies electricity to Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power distribution utility.

Aside from Santa Rita, First Gen also operates the 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas power plant also in Batangas.

It is currently putting up another natural gas plant in San Gabriel, Batangas with its first phase of 414 MW.