The Energy Department warned Tuesday that a delay in the construction of the 600-megawatt coal plant at the Subic Bay Freeport may imperil Luzon’s power supply within the next three to five years.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras told reporters he had discussed the need for additional capacities in the Luzon grid with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority administrator Roberto Garcia.
The SBMA had raised the issue of coal emissions as one of its reasons why it opposed the plant’s construction, but Almendras said the issue had already been addressed by existing coal plants such as the 660-MW Masinloc coal plant owned by AES Corp.
“The question of whether it will be polluting or not has already been answered. Masinloc is one of the cleanest coal plants in the world,” he said.
The Subic coal plant will use two single high-efficiency 300-MW units for a total net generating capacity of 600 MW. The project is estimated to cost $1.28 billion.
“We told him [Garcia] we really need a new power plant for such a time and we will be needing a lot of more of those reserves. I met with them to explain how important it is to build another power plant. We really cannot afford not to have a new power plant by 2015,” Almendras said.
Almendras said Luzon’s power consumption continued to grow but there was no available power plant that could take the place of the 600-MW coal plant of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., if the project was delayed.
He said at the rate power consumption was growing in Luzon, “and if we expect the economy to grow at the pace we’re growing, we will need at least another 600 MW power plant in 2015, another one in 2016 and another in 2017.”
Meralco PowerGen Corp., a subsidiary of electricity distributor Manila Electric Co., is the controlling shareholder of RP Energy.
Meralco PowerGen holds 50 percent plus two shares in RP Energy while Aboitiz-controlled Therma Power Inc. and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.-Philippine branch hold the remaining shares in equal proportion.
RP Energy officials target the completion of the coal project by 2015.
Almendras said the Aquino administration wanted to make sure power would be available in the next five years.
Almendras said SBMA was also in talks with RP Energy on the issue of fees that they will be collecting from the power project. “The proponents said they’re willing to increase also. So hopefully they will come to an agreement on that,” he said.
Meralco PowerGen executive vice president and general manager Aaron Domingo said early this week they had no intention to move out of SBMA.
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