New plant opens in Toledo

Manila Times
By Jeandie O. Galolo
Friday, September 19, 2014

METROBANK’S power generating arm, Global Business Power Corp., switched on yesterday the extension of the 60-megawatt coal plant of its subsidiary Toledo Power Corp. in Toledo City.

GBP Chairman Francisco Sebastian said the P10.2-billion new plant, TPC1-A, will supply the power requirements of Carmen Copper Corp.’s mining expansion projects starting on Dec. 26 this year.

The 82-mw coal-fired power plant was completed three months ahead of schedule.

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Executive Vice President Jaime Azurin said that the company has entered into a 15-to-20-year supply contract with Carmen Copper.

Carmen Copper is a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., which used to run the Toledo Power Corp. (TPC). Five decades after the establishment of TPC, the plant will once again supply the power requirements of Atlas, through Carmen Copper.

In addition, power distribution company Cebu Electric Cooperative III will get 17 mw out of the 72 mw saleable supply.

“GBP had originally intended the new 82-mw plant to replace its existing coal facility with the latest clean technology. Out of the need for more power supply, however, we are refurbishing TPC’s existing coal-fired plant to increase to 62 mw and serve as additional bridging power source,” Azurin said.

The existing 60-mw plant or TPC 1 has been running for 35 years already. GBP will spend P400 million for its rehabilitation.

Azurin said it will take four months to rehabilitate the existing plant, a process they hope to complete before next year’s summer months.

With GBP’s TPC1-A and the coming of the 300-mw Therma Visayas Inc. of Aboitiz Power, Toledo City Mayor John Henry R. Osmena said Toledo will be generating a thousand mw in the next three years.

“Toledo is the power capital of Central Visayas…We are experiencing a unique luxury here with the power and mining (businesses) that we have,” he said.

The Cebu Energy Development Corp. in Toledo City, a consortium of GBP, Aboitiz Power and Vivant Energy Corp., operates a 246-mw coal-fired power plant.

GBP is also operating a 40-mw diesel-fired power plant in Carmen, Toledo.

GBP’s other power facilities are located in Iloilo, Aklan and Mindoro. At present, the company has an ongoing 150-mw expansion project in Iloilo City through its subsidiary Panay Energy Development Corp., which is expected to go online in 2016.

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

Sebastian noted that the Visayas has a better power situation compared to Luzon and Mindanao due to the number of new power plants scheduled to operate in the next few years.

President Benigno Aquino III has asked the House of Representatives to grant him emergency powers to deal with the looming power crisis in 2015, invoking the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. Section 71 states that the President, “upon determination of an imminent shortage of supply of electricity, may ask Conress for authority through a joint resolution, to establish additional generating capacity.” source