Calaca coal fed power plant unit 2 expected to come online 3Q 2015
Businessworld Online
by Madelaine B. Miraflor
September 11, 2014
Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., the power arm of listed group Phinma Corp., is eyeing the third quarter of 2015 as the new prospective date for the commencement of the second unit of 270-megawatts coal-fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas.
The listed company is currently co-developing with Ayala Corp. the 270 MW South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) Calaca power plant in Batangas.
Trans-Asia is expecting that the first 135-MW generating unit of the coal plant to be completed before the year ends, while the second unit, which would complete the 270 MW expected capacity of the entire project, is originally scheduled to be completed by the last quarter of 2015 or even early 2016.
However, Phinma Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Del Rosario said the second unit would come online as early as the third quarter of 2015.
“In our power business, which is through Trans-Asia, two of our power plants will come on-stream before the end of the year. One is the 135 megawatts coal fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas and that will help the shortfall in Luzon and then the second phase of that will come on-stream around third quarter of next year,” Del Rosario said in an interview.
With a project cost of about P10 billion, Ayala, through its energy arm AC Energy Holdings, Inc., is initially investing P1.5 billion for the project, while Trans-Asia committed to pour in P1.5 billion in the project. The funding for the remaining P7 billion is still not yet disclosed.
Ayala and Trans-Asia signed the joint venture agreement in 2011 to develop and operate the said coal power plant.
“We are also hoping that our wind project in Guimaras will also come online before the end of the year and we are quite confident it will. That’s another 54 megawatts,” Del Rosario said.
At present, TransAsia has a portfolio of close to 250 MW of power generation from diesel plants across the country.
“The complexion of our power business will change quite significantly [in the next few years] because we will have those generation power plants already on stream. So we are looking forward for a very good future for the power generation side of the business,” he further said