By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated August 1, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - DMCI Power
Corp., a subsidiary of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., is pursuing more
traditional and renewable energy power projects in off-grid areas in Southern
Luzon and Mindanao.
In an interview, DMCI Power
president Nestor Dadivas said the company has received a number of invitations
to build small power plants in Masbate, Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Basilan
and Agusan.
The company has a contractual
obligation in Masbate for a 15-megawatt (MW) circulating fluidized bed (CFB)
coal plant since 2009.
Dadivas said the firm sought the
help of the local government of Masbate to help in the right of way issues for
the National Power Corp.’s 69-kilovolt (kv) transmission line, which is necessary
to build the 15-MW power project.
“We already have the site but
we cannot close an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract,
funding with banks because the 69-kV line is not up,” he said.
The company has also a contractual
obligation to Palawan for a 2x15-MW CFB coal power plant and a back up of
diesel engine, Dadivas said, noting this would help meet the double-digit
growth in power demand in the island.
DMCI Power is also in talks with the
Mindoro LGU for a power supply from the group’s power plant in Semirara Island.
“We’ve built one CFB plant in
Semirara and we’re in talks with the local government of Mindoro to transport
electricity through submarine cable to Mindoro,” Dadivas said. “But (the
question is) how much support we’ll get from the national government.”
The company official said the
project would be pursued if the electric cooperatives in Mindoro would issue
them a power supply agreement. Mindoro ECs have existing contracts with
geothermal and wind projects that have yet to deliver their capacities, Dadivas
said.
More recently, the company has
received new invitations to build up to 10 MW of capacity in Marinduque and
below five MW capacity in Basilan. “We’ll go through the process of finding out
what they have,” Dadivas said.
In terms of renewable energy,
Dadivas said they were invited by a company to be an EPC contractor or a
strategic partner for a biomass power plant it is planning to build in Agusan.
“There is a company who wants to put
up biomass power plant in Agusan, with woodchips as feedstock. It already has
concession agreements with neighboring farmers,” he said.
“We went through evaluation process
but we found it too expensive, he is trying to look for other sources of
equipment in the region. If he finds a way to bring down the cost, we will
evaluate it,” Dadivas said.
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