Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
After years of
pre-development works, the planned US$1.0- billion liquefied natural gas (LNG)
terminal project of First Gen Corporation will finally break ground as targeted
by the end of this month – and such also signals for it moving subsequently
into construction phase.
The Lopez company is
inviting Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi to lead the groundbreaking rites at
the project site in Batangas, according to information shared to the media.
Frond-end engineering design (FEED) on the project has already been completed.
The Department of
Energy (DOE) similarly indicated that the planned scale of investment was still
set at US$1.0 billion at the issuance of FGEN LNG Corporation’s
notice-to-proceed (NTP) for the project in March this year.
Around October last
year, the FGEN LNG undertaking was also granted certification by the Board of
Investments (BOI) as a venture with pioneer incentives pursuant to the
provisions of Article 17 of Executive Order No. 226.
FGEN LNG will be
pursuing the import terminal facility in partnership with Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd.
which cornered 20 percent shareholdings in the company’s corporate vehicle via
the joint development agreement (JDA) signed by the parties December 5 last
year.
The FGEN LNG venture
will basically lean on the technical expertise as well as on the supply of LNG
that the Japanese partner would be able to bestow in the project’s implementation
and eventual commercial operations.
First Gen’s targeted
market on the LNG import terminal will be its existing gas-fired plants in
Batangas – the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita, 500MW San Lorenzo; 414MW San Gabriel
and 97MW Avion plants.
Three of the companies’
gas-fired power plants have existing power supply agreements with the Manila
Electric Company (Meralco), but when the off-take deals for the Santa Rita and
San Lorenzo plants will expire in 2025 and 2027, First Gen can still offer them
to the utility firm within the ambit of competitive selection process (CSP)
being instituted as policy for distribution utilities in their supply
procurements.
The propounded LNG
import facility will also have room to cater to other gas end-users, including
the Ilijan gas plant of South Premiere Power Corp, a subsidiary of the San
Miguel group; plus a host of prospective industrial end-users.
The Lopez group, on its
own, is also eyeing to take off two more gas-fired power projects from
blueprint – its proposed Santa Maria and Saint Joseph gas-fed power facilities
that may have capacities of 414MW each.
The Philippine power
system’s need for gas capacity is highly anticipated given the targeted
increase in integration of renewables across grids – in which gas is the viable
complement to the intermittency of RE generation.
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