By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated July 25, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Meralco
PowerGen Corp. (MGen) has tapped Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) and
Philippine National Bank (PNB) to finance the 2x600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired
power plant in Atimonan, Quezon.
MGen is the power genera-ting unit
of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
BPI and PNB are the two major
lenders for the P100-billion loan for the power plant under Atimonan One Energy
Inc. (A1E), Meralco president Oscar Reyes said in an interview last week.
Earlier, the company said it is
looking at seven to eight banks to finance 70 percent of the project cost
estimated at P135 billion. The 30 percent will come from equity.
To close the massive borrowing, MGen
is waiting to secure the power supply agreement which is among the deals still
pending with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“We continue to engage with ERC and
are asking them to kindly (process our PSA). We filed our application for PSA
approval in April 2016 so it’s been close to 16 months,” Reyes said.
Meralco filed seven power supply
agreements (PSAs) involving 3,551 MW with the ERC on April 29, 2016, a day
before the new effectivity date of the competitive selection process (CSP)
policy requiring distribution utilities to undertake competitive bidding to
secure PSAs with generation companies.
Full capacity of the Atimonan
project will be sold to Meralco under a 20-year PSA.
The regulatory approval should come
soon as prolonged decision could effect higher costs, Reyes said.
“The important thing is, every
month, results in higher project cost because the EPC (engineering,
procurement, and construction) cost are increasing and exchange rates are
moving. So in order to ensure the viability of the project, and the lower price
for consumers, it’s best if early approval can be given,” he said.
Earlier this month, the ERC vowed to
act on Meralco’s PSAs in three months, a working target set by the regulator
after being grilled by lawmakers in a congressional hearing.
While approval is pending, MGen is
evaluating bids from three potential EPC contractors and is scouting for
prospective partners in the project.
Site preparation is targeted in
mid-2017, while project completion is eyed in late 2021.
It has recently completed the
resettlement of affected households to allow main project construction to
proceed on schedule.
I learn some new stuff from it too, thanks for sharing your information. visit website
ReplyDelete