P30-B coal plant to rise in M’danao

MANILA, Philippines - The power generation arm of GT Capital Holdings Inc. is jumpstarting its partnership with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) through a P30-billion investment for a coal-fired power plant.

Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) plans to contribute around a fifth of total earnings in banking tycoon George S.K. Ty’s GT Capital with the addition of new power plants, a ranking company executive said.

GBPC chief finance officer Jaime Azurin said the power generation firm is firming up its plans for a 300-megawatt (MW) coal plant in Mindanao worth as much as P30 billion under a partnership with Meralco.

The partners will arrive at a final investment decision in the second half, Azurin said.

“Right now, the partnership is for Mindanao,” he said.

In January, Meralco Powergen Corp., the power generation subsidiary of Meralco, teamed up with GBPC for four coal-fired power plants mainly in Mindanao.

“We are looking together on a joint basis at opportunities in expanding or setting up new power plants in Mindanao,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said.

Electricity-starved Mindanao is suffering from rotating outages, particularly during the dry season given its dependence on electricity from hydropower plants.

Azurin said the joint venture will help address the supply shortfall in Mindanao in the next three years.

“If the Mindanao project pushes through, we can double our generating capacity in the next five years,” he said.

GBPC owns coal- and bunker-fueled plants with a generating capacity of 633 MW, mainly in the islands of Panay and Cebu.

In November, GBPC subsidiary Toledo Power Corp. broke ground for an 82-MW clean coal-fired power plant expansion project in Cebu. The same clean coal technology is being used in Cebu Energy’s 246-MW and Panay Energy’s 164-MW power plants.

Additional power plants, including potentially new power plants in Luzon in the long term, will allow GBPC to increase its contribution to GT Capital.

So far, GBPC accounts for 15 percent of GT Capital’s earning, but the power generator aims to increase its income contribution to 20 percent in the next five years, Azurin said.