Manila Bulletin
July 11, 2014
First NatGas Power Corporation (FNPC), the Lopez group’s corporate vehicle for its 414-megawatt San Gabriel gas-fired power facility, has sealed a $265-million export credit facility with KfW IPEX-Bank of Germany to partly bankroll the project’s construction and overall development.
The loan, as culled from the statement of FNPC’s parent firm First Gen Corporation, has a tenor of 13.7 years. It carries a guarantee from Euler Hermes, which acted on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany; while KfW acted as the transaction’s sole underwriter.
“The proceeds of the loan will be used primarily to finance the eligible German and non-German goods and services under the Equipment Supply Contract of the San Gabriel power plant with Siemens AG, the equipment supplier,” First Gen stressed.
Ground-breaking at the plant site, leading to construction phase, was undertaken January this year. The San Gabriel facility will be constructed proximate to the Lopez group’s existing Santa Rita and San Lorenzo gas plants.
The project will be equipped with SGT6-8000H turbine which is touted as an advanced technology being utilized for gas-fed power plants to-date. With such technology application, it has been further indicated that the project could become Southeast Asia’s most-efficient gas-fired plant by the time it reaches commercial operation – with an efficiency rate of more than 60-percent.
On the export credit facility secured for the San Gabriel venture, Markus Sheer, a member of the management board of KfW, has emphasized that “this project is an example of successful exporting of German high technology with added value.”
And with the calculated stepped up efficiencies, the plant will be a showcase project as to how advanced technologies from Germany could help “relieve the burden on the environment” – especially those being attributed to carbon footprints of the power generation sector.
According to First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles B. Puno, the “construction of the 414MW San Gabriel plant is progressing with site preparation and piling activity in Batangas City, as well as the manufacturing of key power plant components.”
He stressed their company will have “to make sure that the plant is built and commissioned on time as it will provide much-needed additional supply to the Luzon grid in the first half of 2016.”
Apparently, the race for most of the committed power projects will be to reach commercial commissioning by 2016 – not only to save Luzon grid from rolling power outages but also to spare the Aquino administration from leaving a legacy of power crisis.
Puno added that while the plant was designed to run on mid-merit basis, the San Gabriel facility once synchronized to the grid can also be called upon for base-load dispatch when needed.
First Gen already made prior announcements that the San Gabriel facility will just be the first of the three-phased gas power facilities it has been eyeing to put on stream until 2019. The next two generating units will yield capacity additions of roughly 900MW with anchor for integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and related gas infrastructure facilities.
“We have started pre-development activities for future units that will enable us to accelerate their development and provide additional capacity to the Luzon grid in 2017 due to its tight supply situation,” Puno stressed. (Myrna Velasco) source
No comments:
Post a Comment