Meralco unit investing $1.2 B for 3 coal plants

MANILA, Philippines - The power generating unit of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is putting in $1.2 billion in equity to develop three coal-fired power plants in Luzon, two of which are being built with partners.

Meralco CFO Betty Siy-Yap said Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) is currently working on three power projects: the 455-megawatt (MW) San Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL) project in Quezon; the Redondo Peninsula Energy (RP Energy) project in Subic, Zambales and the 2x600 MW Atimonan One Energy project in Quezon.

“The two projects (SBPL and RP Energy), we clearly have partners. For Atimonan, in the meantime, we’re developing it as 100 percent,” she said.

SBPL is a joint venture of MGen with New Growth B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thailand’s Energy Generating Co.

On the other hand, RP Energy is a consortium composed of MGen, Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

“So on that basis of 30 percent debt and 70 equity project finance and two project where we’re taking majority, the estimate is about, on equity alone, $1.2 billion,” Siy-Yap said.

In May, Meralco president Oscar Reyes said nearly P100 billion will be borrowed by MGen and its partners this year to move the Subic and Quezon power projects to financial close within the year.

For the SBPL project, MGen executive vice president Aaron Domingo said financial close for the project is targeted “some time this third quarter.”

He said site preparation works are ongoing after awarding the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to a consortium of Korean and Japanese contractors and equipment suppliers.

The 455-MW coal-fired project is targeted for completion in early 2019.

For the RP Energy project in Subic, Domingo said it is still being evaluated if it would have a capacity of 300 MW or 600 MW.

Target commencement of construction is in the first quarter of 2016 and would be completed by the second half of 2019.

Atimonan One Energy, on the other hand, is awaiting the release of the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) within this quarter, Domingo noted.

The project is also now in the process of tendering the EPC contract, where an EPC contractor will be selected by next year.

“The target completion of the first unit is in late 2020,” Domingo said.