2 coal-fired plants for Naga; Salcon rehab plant junked

Two new coal-fired power plants that will add 200 megawatts to the Visayas grid will be built in the City of Naga, southern Cebu within three to four years.

Cesar Villarete, senior manager of Salcon Power Corp. (SPC) yesterday said the two coal-fired plants will be built inside the 22-hectare Naga power plant complex in partnership with the Korean Electric Power Corp. (Kepco).

He said they will build two new power plants instead of rehabilitating the 30-year-old coal-fired plants that they are presently operating.
Last week, Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong led a rally in front of the power plant to protest its rehabilitation, saying the old plant would pose health risks to communities near the facility.

Villegas said they already had decided against the rehabilitation of the power plant, but did not made the decision public pending the finalization of the plant’s ownership.

“So for the people of Naga and its officials to have peace of mind, we will not repair the facility. That was not the plan in the first place. We just didn’t announce our plans yet because the ownership was not yet final,” he  said.

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) had issued a notice of award to Therma Power Visayas Inc. (TPVI), a company owned by the Aboitiz Group of Companies, last April after they  tendered  the highest bid for the rehabilitation of the old plant.

But SPC which now manages the plant, chose to counter the winning bid of P1.088 billion by paying P1.143 billion to PSALM.

Reached for comment yesterday, the mayor of Naga City said the announcement was a “welcome development for Naga.”

“After our support for the power plant, the city deserves such project,” he said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

In a press statement, SPC said the coal-fired plants will be built using the “most environment-friendly circulating fluidized bed combustion technology.”

The peak power demand in the Visayas grid is expected to reach 1,700 MW level by December 12  or a 133 MW increase from only 1,567 MW last year.

Abner Bardoquillo, head of network operations for Visayas of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), said some small plants will be operational which can meet power supply demands this year.

As of yesterday, Bardoquillo said the system capacity for the Visayas grid also known as the Negros-Cebu-Panay grid was at 1,666 MW with demand at 1,432 MW. “The system has a surplus of over 200 MW which we are also exporting to the Luzon grid,” he said.

Based on a recent presentation by Gerardo B. Castro of the Department of Energy Central Visayas office, there are four new power plants scheduled to start operations this year which mostly run on renewable energy sources.

“We have 8MW from Sacasol (San Carlos Solar Energy) Plant 2 by August this year, 8 MW from Villasiga HEP by October and 31 MW from URC Biomass and 82 MW expansion from Toledo Power,” Castro said.

Next year, five power plants are scheduled to operate with a total capacity of 128.6 MW and a  plant that can generate 270 MW will operate in 2016.

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