Published June 12, 2018, 10:00 PM By Myrna M.
Velasco
Having been a legal consultant at
the pre-development phase of the project, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)
Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera forthrightly told media that she will inhibit
in the deliberation and in the decision process for the power supply agreement
(PSA) of the US$3.0 billion Atimonan One Energy (A1E) coal-fired power project.
The proposed Atimonan facility is
one of the major plant developments of Meralco PowerGen, the power generation
investment arm of Manila Electric Company. So far, it is the first cast on
blueprint to be equipped with the cutting-edge ultra super critical (USC)
technology.
Devanadera said “I had to inhibit
(in the PSA decision) for the Atimonan plant,” explaining that “I used to have
my legal consultancy in the project.”
She expounded “I never knew at that
time that I will be in this position, so when I looked at the pending PSA
cases, I was surprised that it’s still there.”
With the ERC chief restraining
herself in the PSA decision process, she noted that it will even be more
difficult to predict when the supply deals of Meralco will secure approvals.
Beyond that dilemma, two
Commissioners – Alfredo J. Non and Gloria Victoria C. Yap-Taruc will be
retiring on July 10, and it may take time for their replacements to review all
of the pending cases that will be lodged to them for action.
The propounded 1,2000-megawatt
Atimonan power plant is a shovel-ready project, with financial closing and
award of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract just waiting
in the wings.
Given the very delayed
implementation of the project and all the controversies hounding it – along
with all the other proposed facilities with PSAs underwritten by Meralco, the
project developer is getting ‘extremely pained’ that it cannot see its planned
facilities see the light of day.
The Atimonan plant has also been
applied for its certification as “energy project of national significance”, but
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi noted that he will just sign it if the project
proponent undertakes Swiss challenge on its supply deal.
Another project of the utility
firm’s subsidiary that is now ready to advance into construction phase is the
600MW Redondo Peninsula Energy (RP Energy) coal-fired power project in Subic.
The latest pronouncement from
Meralco PowerGen has been the intent to have its configuration shifted into a
single unit of 600MW with the same ultra super critical technology instead of
the original design of having two units at 300MW capacity each.
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