Davao plant expansion mulled

Business World Online

Posted on October 06, 2013 10:56:43 PM

DAVAO CITY -- Therma South, Inc. is considering raising the capacity of its planned coal-fired plant at this city’s boundary with the town of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, a senior official of the company’s parent, Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower), said in an interview last week.

Luis Miguel O. Aboitiz, AboitizPower senior vice-president, said its subsidiary is looking at eventually raising the plant’s capacity to 450 megawatts (MW) from 300 MW.

Speaking on the sidelines of an orientation in Pasig City for stakeholders last Oct. 1, Mr. Aboitiz clarified that such plan “is not final.”

The company aims to complete the power plant by mid-2015.

In a press statement released on Sunday, Manuel O. Orig, first vice-president for Mindanao of AboitizPower, said the project is about 50% complete with about 2,000 workers building the plant.

“We are fully committed to delivering power to our customers on time and help relieve Mindanaoans of debilitating effects of the Mindanao power crisis,” Mr. Orig said.

Mindanao, which has been experiencing chronic power deficiency, was estimated by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines on Sunday -- which usually has the lowest demand for the week -- as having a thin 52-MW reserve.

While Mr. Orig said Therma South has signed sale contracts with most of the 23 power distributors on the island, he did not disclose the volume committed to each utility.

KEEPING UP
The bulk of the electricity to be generated, however, will go to AboitizPower unit Davao Light & Power Co., which signed a 100-MW sale contract with sister Therma South about a year ago.

Arturo M. Milan, Davao Light executive vice-president, has said the power distributor needs to keep up with demand of growing investments in the city. Mr. Milan noted that power requirement of areas served by Davao Light has been growing by an average of 6.5% annually since 2009.

Aside from this city, the distributor also serves Panabo City and three other towns in Davao del Norte.

By 2015, the power demand of Davao Light is expected to hit 345 MW.
Therma South started work on its P25-billion project in 2011. Last week, superstructures of the plants two units, each with 150-MW capacity, had been erected.

AboitizPower shares gained 90 centavos or 2.73% to close P33.90 apiece on Friday last week from P33.00 on Thursday. -- C. Q. Francisco  source