by Madelaine B. Miraflor March 6,
2016
Singapore — US industrial giant
General Electric (GE) is eyeing more involvement in the pipeline of coal
projects in the Philippines as the company promotes its newest technology that
improves the efficiency of existing and new coal-fired power plants.
GE Steam Power Systems president and
chief executive officer Andreas Lusch said the company is now “tendering a lot
of projects in the Philippines”.
“We are really interested in putting
our newest technology in [Philippine projects],” Lusch told Manila Bulletin on
the sidelines of GE Steam Power Summit held in Singapore.
“Of course, for us it only makes sense if the
client, whether he is a developer or a utility, really wants highest
efficiency, then we are very competitive and we are the right people.
If they opt for lower technology, we
are not keen to support that. If they go to highest efficiency technology, then
we go,” he added.
Lusch said that it has been selected
by two Philippine companies to build their “big coal projects” in the country,
of which constructions are now ongoing. When asked to specify the name of
companies, Lusch refused to disclose it.
GE Steam Power Systems provides the
overall design, engineering and construction of the plant and the integration
of the in-house critical parts of the power block including the circulating
fluidized bed boiler, steam turbine, generator and air quality control systems.
The company pioneered the
supercritical steam generation and is today one of the technology leaders in
advanced and ultra-supercritical technology. Its latest-generation of thermal
power station operates with steam at very high temperature and pressure, known
as ultra-supercritical conditions.
This increases the power-station
efficiency to as much as 46 percent. Each percentage point increase in
efficiency reduces CO2 emissions by two to three percent.
In the middle of last year, former
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said there are more than 20 new
coal-fired power plants that would be established in the Philippines by 2020.
The list includes the 300-MW plant
in Davao City that is being developed by Therma South, a subsidiary of the
Philippines’ Aboitiz Power; the 400-MW plant being developed by Team Energy in
Quezon; and the 600-MW plant of Redondo Peninsula Energy.
San Miguel Corporation will also
develop a Davao City plant, while working on the expansion of the Bataan power
plant from 600 to 900 MW. Meanwhile Meralco PowerGen Corporation, a
subsidiary of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), will develop two major facilities
in Quezon—the 1200 MW Atimonan and 500 MW San Buenaventura plants − both
targeted for completion in 2018.
Steve Bolze, president and chief
executive officer of GE Power, said in a briefing with a group of ASEAN
reporters that 25 percent of the world’s future power capacity will still come
from coal- or oil-fired steam power plants and 95 percent of the global demand
will come from Asia, India, and China.
“For a business perspective, ASEAN
will be the fastest growing in the region in terms for Steam Power Systems…
Over the next 30 to 50 years, coal will go down but it will still account for a
larger pie in the overall energy mix,” Bolze said.
“Most companies want to do RE
[renewable energy] but I would say a lot of countries in the region still
require a big scale of power. In general, coal is still the most affordable,”
he added.
In the Philippines, the government
is targeting to cater to at least 30 percent of the country’s energy demand
with RE, up from the current level of 23 per cent , and 30 percent from
liquefied natural gas, in order to cut the carbon impact of coal generation
No comments:
Post a Comment