82-MW Cebu power plant switched on

By MST Business | Sep. 19, 2014 at 11:20pm

Global Business Power Corp. switched on Friday the newly-built 82-megawatt coal-fired power plant of subsidiary Toledo Power Corp. in Barangay Daanlungsod in Toledo City, Cebu.

“Toledo Power wasted no time in completing the expansion project three months ahead of schedule,” said GBP chairman Francisco Sebastian.

“Immediate completion of the expansion project is a validation of effective private-public partnerships, working for a common goal of building a progressive nation,” he said.

The expansion project, worth P10.2 billion and using circulating fluidized bed technology, broke ground in November 2012.

The new plant will supply the power requirements of Carmen Copper Corp.’s mining expansion projects, beginning Dec. 26, 2014. Carmen Copper is a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp.

Five decades after the establishment of TPC, it will once again supply the power requirement of the Atlas mines through Carmen Copper Corp. TPC was initially built to power the Atlas mines in the 1960s until its closure in the 1990s.

Aside from Carmen Copper, the expansion project can also help ease the power situation in the Visayas grid and serve power requirements of major industries in Western Cebu such as Balamban Enerzone and CEBECO III.

The 82-MW expansion project is an addition to Toledo Power’s existing 60-MW coal-fired and 40-MW diesel-fired plants.

“GBP had originally intended the new 82-MW plant to replace its existing coal facility with the latest clean coal technology,” said GBP executive vice president Jaime Azurin.

“Out of the need for more power supply, however, we are even refurbishing TPC’s existing coal-fired plant to increase its capacity to 62-MW to serve as additional bridging power source for the projected energy requirements for next year’s summer season and APEC meeting,” Azurin said.

GBP, a member of the Metrobank Group of Companies, is one of the leading independent power producers in the Visayas. Its power plants are strategically located where high growth is expected, with power facilities located in Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, and Mindoro.

The company has an ongoing 150-MW expansion project in Iloilo City through subsidiary, Panay Energy Development Corp. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 2014 and operation is targeted by June 2016.

Panay Energy’s 150-MW expansion project can serve power requirements in the entire Visayas region, including Panay, Boracay, Negros, Cebu, and Leyte, at a rate of P5.05 per kwH for long-term supply agreements. source