Business World Online
Posted on May 12, 2014 10:48:39 PM
By Claire-Ann M. C. Feliciano, Senior Reporter
COMMERCIAL operations of First Gen Corp.’s 100-megawatt (MW) Avion natural gas power plant in Batangas is expected to start operations in time for summer next year, an official told reporters yesterday.
Francis Giles B. Puno, First Gen’s president and chief operating officer, said Avion -- which will be designed to operate during peak hours -- will help address the tight supply in the Luzon grid during summer.
“Our current timeline for Avion is that we should be able to complete that sometime next year -- by March 2015 -- in time for the summer months,” he said in a briefing after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City.
Mr. Puno said the company is in the process of finalizing negotiations for the project’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
The plant will have two 50-MW units which would cost about $100 million.
Apart from the Avion project, First Gen is also working on the 414-MW San Gabriel natural gas project, which is scheduled to start operations in 2016.
Emmanuel P. Singson, company senior vice-president and chief finance officer, said the plant -- which was estimated to cost around $600 million -- will be funded by a combination of loan and equity.
“We are lining up export credit financing and other funding [arrangements] for around $265 million. We’re finalizing that and it will be long-term. The balance for the financing will come from local banks,” he said.
First Gen had tapped Germany-based Siemens AG to build and operate the 414-MW San Gabriel plant, which is scheduled to start commercial operations by March 2016.
The project will be built adjacent to First Gen’s existing 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas plants located in a site straddling barangays Santa Rita Aplaya and Santa Rita Karsada.
The company’s goal is to develop natural gas plants -- with a combined capacity of 1,342 MW -- as well as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Batangas by 2019.
In another development, officials said the company expects lower profit in the first quarter of this year -- after super-typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) damaged the power plants of Energy Development Corp. (EDC), where First Gen holds a 49% economic interest.
“Compared to last year, this year’s [first quarter performance] was a little down,” said Mr. Singson.
He said both revenues and net income were affected by the damaged plants in Leyte.
“The EDC plants were not in full commercial operations so that affected the numbers,” he said.
EDC’s power plants consist of the Unified Leyte geothermal power plant complex and the 112.5-MW Tongonan power plant.
“The year 2015 will be a better year. EDC’s plants will start operating and will contribute next year. We also expects contribution from Avion,” Mr. Puno said. source
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