Delays not hampering completion of 455-MW Quezon coal-fired plant

MANILA, Philippines — San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL) has encountered some delays in the construction of the 455-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon.

The plant, however, is on track for completion by mid-2019.

SBPL, a joint venture between Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen) and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (EGCO), has completed 84 percent of the power plant as of March, MGen president and CEO Rogelio Singson said.

Singson said the project may experience delay by two to three months from its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor due to late turnovers owing to weather disturbances and local government issues.

SBPL tapped the tandem of Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. to build the project.

“In my discussions with Daelim, they were saying they did not anticipate that the weather in that peninsula would be different from the rest of Luzon. For example, for the month of December they only had two to three working days. And to add to that is the cease and desist order (CDO) issued by the local government unit,” Singson said.

The peninsula was ravaged by Tropical Depression ‘Maring’ in September and Tropical storm Urduja in December.

Meanwhile, the local government of Mauban lifted the CDO on SBPL last January after a memorandum agreement was signed  between the two parties.

MGen and Daelim are currently in discussions to immediately address the issues,” Singson said.

Even with the delays, MGen expects to complete the project within the original timeline set and will not result into losses.

“We’re confident we can come into an early settlement and therefore we should still be able to accomplish the project within the timeline given to us by Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC),” Singson said.

“If we had commissioned it earlier, then it would have increased revenues. But there’s some provision for time allowance and we will not go beyond that,” he said.

As a supercritical power plant, the SBPL project operates on a higher pressure and temperature in the steam cycle, which means less fuel consumption and lower emission for the same amount of coal.

The electricity generated by the plant will be sold to Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest distribution utility, under a 20-year power supply agreement that was approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission in 2015.