July 24, 2018 | 12:01 am By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
GNPOWER KAUSWAGAN Ltd.
Co. (GNPK) has stepped up the development of one of Mindanao’s biggest power
plants and has sought regulatory approval to build a point-to-point
transmission line from the facility to the national grid.
In its application with
the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), GNPK said it is building a clean
pulverized coal-fired power generation facility with four units, each with a
capacity of 138 megawatts (MW) or a total of 552 MW.
GNPK, which is led by
Ayala Corp. subsidiary AC Energy Holdings, Inc., is seeking ERC approval to
develop, own and operate grid connection facilities with a capacity of 230
kilovolt (kV) and a 69 kV.
“In order for GNPK to
timely conduct the necessary testing and commissioning of the first unit of the
[power plant] by the second half of 2018, GNPK intends to have the Dedicated
Connection Facilities operationally ready by then,” it said in its application.
“GNPK and NGCP are
currently discussing the terms and conditions of the connection agreement which
will govern the interconnection and transmission of power supply” from the
generation facility into the Mindanao grid, it added.
The company is building
the power plant in barangays Libertad and Tacub in the municipality of
Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte province.
In its application with
the ERC, GNPK said the power plant will be connected to the Mindanao grid
through the Balo-I-Kauswagan-Aurora 230-kV transmission line. Given the
location of the facility, its optimum connection to the grid network should be
through the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) 230 kV
transmission line.
The company said the
technical feasibility of connecting the power plant to NGCP’s Kauswagan 230-kV
substation was confirmed in the system impact study (SIS) that the system
operator approved in April 2014.
Aside from the SIS, a
facility study has been conducted to determine the technical specifications,
the design and operational criteria, and the cost of the equipment,
engineering, procurement and construction, as well as the time required for the
proposed connection.
GNPK is a subsidiary of
AC Energy in partnership with the Philippine Investment Alliance for
Infrastructure Fund and Power Partners. The construction of the plant is in
full swing and is expected to be in commercial operation by 2018, AC Energy
said in its website.
The facility will
operate as a baseload plant to support the power demand and economic
development of Mindanao, it added.
In its initial order,
the ERC said it had found the application “sufficient in substance” and had set
the expository presentation, pre-trial conference and presentation of evidence
on Sept. 7, 2018.
If completed, the plant
will be among the biggest power generator in Mindanao, which has an installed
capacity of 2,730.1 MW, of which 2,378.8 MW are considered dependable. The
southern island’s biggest power facility at present is the Agus hydroelectric
plants, which has seven units, the biggest of which generates 255 MW.
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