Published December 25, 2017, 10:00
PM By Myrna M. Velasco
The power generation arm of the
Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has sealed a 10-year agreement with Irish
firm Electricity Supply Board International (ESBI) for the operations and
maintenance (O&M) component of its US$2.5-billion Atimonan One Energy (A1E)
coal-fired power project in Quezon province.
In a lunch briefing with reporters,
Meralco PowerGen President Rogelio L. Singson noted that the choice for ESB has
been strategic – mainly anchored on the array of energy solutions it has on its
portfolio as well as on its willingness to do ‘knowledge transfer’ eventually
on power plant operations.
“We tapped ESB International of
Ireland, they’re into new technologies, solar you name it, they’re into it,” he
said.
Singson expounded “the agreement
with them is we are going to finalize an agreement for them to operate Atimonan
One once we get all of these approvals,” mainly the long-awaited power supply
deal for the facility’s generated capacity.
He emphasized that this comes “with
an understanding that it is a 10-year engagement … so that after 10 years, we
can run the plant ourselves.”
On technology transfer, he noted
that ESB’s vast experience on its 120 countries of operations had been a
valuable consideration in their selection and their keenness on the technology
transfer requirement of Meralco PowerGen.
“The knowledge transfer is key and
not too many companies would be very happy to do that transfer of knowledge,”
company executives indicated.
The latest on the Atimonan project’s
development landscape had been the signing months back of a ‘mandate letter’
for R107 billion worth of loans to be closed to advance the facility to
construction phase.
No comments:
Post a Comment