Semirara Mining, Meralco seal partnership for Calaca plant expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Semirara Mining and Power Corp. has formalized its partnership with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for the expansion of the Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Semirara said it executed and entered into a joint venture agreement with Meralco Powergen Corp., Meralco’s power generation arm, “for the purpose of owning, constructing and operating a 2x350-MW coal fired power plant to be located in Calaca, Batangas.”

The partners put up a project company for the power plant, called St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., which will build two single units of 350 megawatts each.

Semirara said it has secured an environmental compliance certificate on Sept. 17, 2015 from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Earlier this month, Semirara chairman Isidro Consunji announced the possible partnership with Meralco and Marubeni Corp. of Japan for the expansion phase of the Calaca power plant.

He said the structure of the proposed partnership is likely to be 40-40-20, with DMCI Group and Meralco getting the larger shareholdings.

Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the new joint project will form part of the group’s 3,000 MW target portfolio.

The new power plant will be the second phase expansion of the Calaca power plant, which has an initial capacity of 600 MW.

A new 2x150 MW power plant under Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. was completed last year, which is the first phase expansion of the facility.

It started commercial operations last February, originally targeted in December 2015.