Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Regulatory compliance paves way for Naga coal plant’s comm’l run


Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
June 8, 2011, 2:36am
MANILA, Philippines — The issuance of its certificate of compliance (CoC) will formally give project sponsors the permission to finally set for commercial kick-off and synchronize to the Visayas grid the capacity of the 200-megawatt Naga coal-fired facility in Cebu.
The joint venture vehicle of Korea Electric Power Corporation and SPC Power Corporation (KSPC) has been preparing for the plant’s completion unveiling toward the end of this month.
Energy Regulatory Commission chairperson Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut explained that “the ERC’s grant of COC to KSPC allows it to commence the commercial operation of their power plant and help augment the short power supply in the Visayas.”
The facility, which has been designed for two units of 100MW capacity each, is highly expected to significantly minimize, if not end, brownout woes in some parts of Visayas where its capacity will be wheeled and delivered to.
Around 80-percent of the plant’s output had already been committed to various electric cooperatives via power supply agreements, while the balance has been planned to be traded at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
The regulator emphasized in its compliance certificate’s issuance that the Naga plant will “provide 11.24% of the requirements of the Visayas grid;” and such has been anticipated to result in “significant improvements to the power supply to the islands of Cebu, Negros, and Panay.”
It further pointed out that “KSPC has satisfactorily complied with the financial, technical, and environmental requirements of a COC.”
Based on its evaluation, the regulatory body noted that the debt service capability ratio (DSCR) of KSPC entails that it can “finance its long term debts throughout the period covered by its COC.”
At this stage, the industry regulator indicated that the project company already completed “the final stage of the testing and commissioning of Unit 2” and has so far submitted to the ERC the result of its reliability and performance tests.
The current market share of the project developers was also found to be well within the cap prescribed under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
KSPC’s total credited capacity has been placed at 220.5 megawatts or just around 10.75 per cent as compared to the grid limit of 30 percent. On a national scale, the company’s equivalent market share would just be very marginal at 1.47 percent as compared to the 25 percent limit.

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