October
6, 2017
PHINMA
ENERGY Corp. is studying four new projects with a total capacity of 925.6
megawatts (MW) that will mark the company’s move to diversity its power
generation portfolio to include gas and hydropower, company officials said.
“With
all the coal plants being planned, you’ll have enough for 2025,” said Francisco
L. Viray, Phinma Energy president and chief executive officer, in a briefing in
Quezon City, when asked about the company’s plan to develop new resources.
Three
of the four projects under the pre-development stage are combined cycle gas
turbines (CCGT), and the remaining one is a hydroelectric power plant. They
have all been cleared by the Department of Energy (DoE) to conduct grid impact
studies.
These
projects are the 383-MW Sta.Ana CCGT power plant in Port Irene, Sta. Ana,
Cagayan; 383-MW Sual CCGT floating power plant in Brgy. Baquioen, Sual,
Pangasinan; 138 MW Argao floating CCGT power plant in Brgy. Bulasa, Argao,
Cebu; and 21.6 MW Ilog hydroelectric power plant in Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
Mr.
Viray said the choice of the resources and their location were based on what
the system could handle during the period when the company expects to finish
the project.
The
Phinma Energy official said there is no transmission line congestion up north,
thus the choice of Sual and Cagayan. Argao is strategic because of plans to
interconnect the Mindanao and Visayas power grids via Cebu, he added.
He
declined to disclose the project cost and the timeline of completion.
“Portfolio
diversification, that’s one of our strengths,” said Danielle R. del Rosario,
Phinma Energy assistant vice-president and head of sales and marketing. “When
you offer it to customers, they appreciate that you have a portfolio of
different sources.”
On
renewables, the company started with wind power with the 54-MW San Lorenzo wind
farm project on Guimaras Island in Western Visayas under Phinma Energy’s
renewable energy subsidiary.
The
company previously said that it was looking at a 40-MW expansion of its wind
project in adjacent town Sibunag, although it said the move was dependent on
the DoE issuing a new feed-in-tariff (FiT) rate for the renewable resource.
“Sibunag
is still on,” said Mr. Viray, although the company is not banking on a FiT rate
for the project. “[We’re] still waiting for bilateral [contracts].”
Phinma
Energy posted P200.29 million as net profit attributable to the parent in the
first six months of 2017, 45% lower than the P543.33 million during the same
period a year ago.
Shares
in Phinma Energy slipped 0.56% or by one centavo to close at P1.77 apiece on
Thursday. — Victor V. Saulon
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