The 340-MW baseload power facility in Toledo City, Cebu started delivering energy to the grid this month. /Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Visayas Inc. has started to deliver energy from the first of two 170-Megawatt (150 MW net) baseload units in Toledo City, Cebu.
The second 170-MW unit is expected to start operations by May 2019.
“We are happy to have brought Therma Visayas online just in time to support the government’s call for more reliable energy supply as we head towards the midterm elections,” said Danel C. Aboitiz, president and COO of AboitizPower’s Coal Business Unit.
“By having a reliable baseload plant on the island of Cebu, the residents and investors on the island will enjoy a number of economic and strategic benefits that include increased energy security, more competitive prices, and local employment.”
The plant will deliver power to the Visayan Electric Co., Inc. (Veco) and electric cooperatives, as well as open access customers in Luzon and the Visayas. Customers with energy supply contracts enjoy stable prices in the long term and are essentially protected from the volatility of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The Toledo baseload power plant uses the latest circulating fluidized bed technology (CFB) and best available control technology (BACT) to minimize emissions to world-class levels. It is the second plant in the Philippines to build a “coal dome” to safely store its coal fuel and prevent fugitive dust outside the facility.
The plant started construction in 2015 and at its peak employed around 5,800 people, most of whom came from the host locality.
The facility is a joint venture between Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp.
Apart from the TVI, the first unit of GNPower Dinginin baseload power plant with 668 MW gross capacity is also expected to go online later this year, while the second unit, which also has a gross capacity of 668 MW, is currently targeted for commercial operations in 2020. Once operational, these facilities will boost AboitizPower’s capacity and help address the country’s rapidly increasing demand for reliable and cost-efficient power./dcb