Meralco seeks perks for $1.28B project

11:00 pm | Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, is seeking incentives from the Board of Investments (BoI) for its $1.28 billion (roughly P55 billion) coal-fired power plant project in the Subic freeport.

Meralco president and CEO Oscar S. Reyes said Wednesday the company had filed for BoI registration, with an endorsement from the Department of Energy, as it intends to pursue the Subic project as scheduled, despite protests lodged against it.

According to Reyes, the company remains committed to operating the 600-megawatt coal power plant by 2015 to shore up power supply in the Luzon grid.

The construction of the facility is being undertaken by subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp., through a joint-venture vehicle company named Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy).

Meralco PowerGen is the controlling shareholder of RP Energy with 50 percent plus two shares, while Aboitiz Power Corp., through subsidiary Therma Power Inc., and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp. (Philippine branch) own the remaining shares equally.

Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, meanwhile, said the Subic coal project was “in an advanced stage of development with site preparation nearing completion and the grid impact study for transmission lines and interconnection well underway.”

The grid impact study, according to Pangilinan, seeks to identify the most efficient way to connect the RP Energy plant to the grid transmission system of National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

“We are scheduled to award the contract for the engineering, procurement and construction contract in the third quarter of 2012. Meralco PowerGen is also working in a broad range of pre-development studies in other power-generating projects using clean coal, natural gas, liquefied natural gas and hydro as fuel sources,” he said.—Amy R. Remo

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Tags: business incentives , electricity production and distribution , Energy , investmens , Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) , power plant project

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AYITA5V33GYZSLC3G37UCVNTKA Ben

The perks that the government should give must be based on how much impact the project will have on environmental foot print, the technology transfer to our country and how much it will lower the price of electricity for example which is the highest in Asia, I think. This perks should be separate from the rate they will impose to recover the costs of building the infrastructures, maintainance, upgrade or expansions and yes, fair profits for the investors. Electricity, powers our economy and you don`t have to be an economist to know how an expensive electricity will put a dent on the economic productivity and the cost of producing and hauling goods and services, leaving less money for capital investments or expansions for those investors or small enterprises whose pockets are not that deep.

If it is low green house emitter with an innovative way of lowering electricity rate, then WHY NOT? Perks should only be based on a case to case basis, the highest perks should be given to pioneering businesses, excluding how much important to the country the technology transfer they bring, then perks be given in a descending pattern based on their impact on the economy and this should be in fine print as a guide for the investors who will then be able to base their decisions where to put their money.
JIMBOYPALABOY

perks? ipapasa kaya nila sa mga consumers ang mga ito. o baka lalong tumaas ang bill ng meralco. whaaaaaaa.
Nic Legaspi

I’d rather they ask for perks when they decide to go green on their energy projects.

Meralco seeks perks for $1.28B project

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