Aboitiz-led power plant in Toledo nears completion

CEBU, Philippines - The 340-megawatt coal-fired power plant of the Aboitiz Power Corp., in Toledo City, Cebu is now nearing completion and is expected to be operational by end of 2017.

Luis Miguel Aboitiz, chief operating officer for corporate business group and executive vice president, said: "We're more than halfway the construction."

Therma Visayas Inc., a unit of Aboitiz Power, is the one constructing the coal-fired power plant, which will provide the Visayas grid a reliable and cost-efficient baseload power supply by 2017.

The Therma Visayas plant, which is composed of two 170MW units, will improve the energy mix of Visayas through dependable baseload power securing the energy needs of the region.

Aboitiz said the Toledo plant is bigger and more efficient than the 300-MW Davao coal plant it inaugurated early this year.

Sebastian Lacson, chief operating officer of the firm's Coal Group, had previously said the company was investing some P36 to P38 billion for the plant.

According to data from the Department of Energy as of end August, private-led committed power projects for the Visayas grid have a rated capacity of 471.58 MW.

The data showed that more than 50 percent of the expected capacity would be coming from coal-fired power plants with cumulative capacity of 285 MW, while solar power plants come in second in terms of rated capacity at 115.48 MW.

The other committed power projects include oil (8 MW), geothermal (50 MW) and hydropower (13.1 MW).

The data indicated that these power plants are expected to supply power to the Visayas grid this year through 2019.

Based on the daily power outlook of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the Visayas grid's capacity was at 2213 MW and peak demand reached 1738 MW as of yesterday morning, leaving a reserve of 375 MW.

Transmission

Last August 22 NGCP energized its newest facility, the Calong-calong–Toledo–Colon 138-kiloVolt transmission project, which will directly benefit the provinces of Cebu and Bohol and all power users in the two islands.

A 52-circuit kilometer transmission line, the upgrade of the substation in Toledo, and the expansion of substations in Calong-calong and Colon are among the components of this project designed to boost the Visayas grid’s capability and accommodate the 246-MW power plants of Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC) and the 82-MW coal-fired plant of Toledo Power Company.

“The completion of this project fulfilled the N-1 requirement of the transmission corridor in the Western Cebu area. This means a wider, more reliable highway for power suppliers to transmit supply to customers, particularly those served by the plants such as VECO and other distribution utilities in Cebu and Bohol. With this enhanced reliability, supply from Cebu power plants can potentially reach as far as Luzon," NGCP earlier said.  (FREEMAN)