Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- September 20, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) has endorsed Meralco Powergen Corp.’s 455-megawatt (MW) power
plant in Mauban, Quezon for commercial operations to boost supply next month.
DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said he
wrote a letter to the ERC, stressing the important role of the 455-MW San
Buenaventura Power Limited Co. (SBPL) plant in its power development
plan.
The plant, he said, would provide
more capacity during the shutdown of the Malampaya gas facility next month.
“I wrote ERC and I manifested to ERC
the importance of it being online because that supply is necessary to augment
the present supply of the country,” Cusi said.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) had
sought the help of the DOE to get the SBPL project up and running soon.
Meralco president and CEO Ray
Espinosa said the power plant was supposed to start commercial operations last
Sept. 15 but the ERC has yet to issue the project’s certificate of compliance
(COC).
The COC, which has a term of five
years, is necessary before any generation company can commence commercial
operations.
Espinosa said the ERC had raised
issues on SBPL’s water rights, but the power generating company could use
Meralco’s water rights issued by the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB).
Meralco is projecting a reduction of
about 600 to 900 MW of capacity in the Luzon power grid during the maintenance
shutdown of the Malampaya gas field from Oct. 12 to 15.
The DOE earlier assured there would
be enough supply during the Malampaya shutdown as preparations were done early
and contingencies were put in place.
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