Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- March 13, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The delay in
the gas-fired power plant of Australian firm Energy World Corp. (EWC)
“hurts” the Department of Energy’s power supply planning, DOE Secretary Alfonso
Cusi said.
Cusi said the 650-megawatt (MW)
power plant is a committed capacity and has been included in the Power
Development Plan (PDP).
The project, however, has yet to
start commercial operations.
“It’s hurting us, it’s affecting our
planning. That is already counted as a committed capacity and we have projected
when they will be online. But they have been delayed for more than two years,”
Cusi said.
Planned since 2011, EWC’s Pagbilao
liquefied natural gas (LNG) suffered numerous delays due to issues ranging from
volatile LNG prices, funding, regulatory obstacles and confusion over
transmission arrangements.
Last year, EWC pushed back the
operation of its LNG hub in Pagbilao Grande Island, Quezon from this year to
March 2020 pending the completion of the tie-in connection to Tayabas-Naga
transmission line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
NGCP’s grant of access to the
Tayabas-Naga transmission line, a 230-kilovolt facility, will allow up to 200
MW of power to go through it on a temporary basis.
As per regulation, Cusi said there
is no penalty imposed on power developers due to delay.
“While we continue to investigate,
we can only just push the project and encourage them to complete,” he said.
The DOE has certified that EWC’s
650-MW power plant is an energy project of national significance.
The 650-MW power plant, adjacent to
the LNG hub terminal facility, will provide clean electricity which will be
sold through the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) to the Luzon grid.
EWC’s LNG terminal is among the
facilities intended to safeguard the country against the anticipated contract
expiration of the Malampaya gas facility by 2024.
Other facilities approved by the DOE
are that of Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc. and First Gen Corp.’s wholly-owned
subsidiary FGEN LNG Corp.
The government is also studying
other options with respect to the Malampaya project, the country’s only gas
source.
“The contract will expire by 2024
and the question is, what’s next?” So we are studying the options, like taking
over, looking for a new operator, or extending the contract,” Cusi said.
DOE is also considering tapping a
foreign consultant to conduct a comprehensive study on the future of the
Malampaya project.
“We are talking to Wood Mackenzie
and IHS Markit for an independent study because we cannot just be dependent on
the study being presented to us by Shell,” DOE undersecretary Donato Marcos
said.
Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.
(SPEX) is the lead operator of Service Contract (SC) 38, the contract for
Malampaya.
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