Aboitiz Power eyes 300-MW plant in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines—Aboitiz Power Corp. is planning to build a 300-megawatt power plant in Cebu to help address the need for additional capacity in the Visayas grid starting 2015.

The proposed power project, which may likely be coal-fed, will also expand the company’s power portfolio on the island.

According to APC president Erramon I. Aboitiz, the proposed Cebu power project was still being developed and has yet to secure board approval.

“We don’t have a timetable for that yet,” Aboitiz said.

APC has interests in several power facilities located in Cebu, including a 26-percent stake in Cebu Energy Development Corp., which owns and operates a 246-MW coal-fired plant in Toledo City.

APC also holds 50 percent of the outstanding capital stock of East Asia Utilities Corp., which operates a 50-MW bunker-fired power plant in the Mactan export processing zone on Mactan Island. It likewise owns 60 percent of the total outstanding shares of Cebu Private Power Corp., which operates a 70-MW bunker-fired plant in Cebu City under a build-operate-transfer contract to supply 62 MW to the Aboitiz Group’s Visayan Electric Co. (Veco).

The proposed 300-MW power plant of APC will help the government secure adequate supply for the Visayas grid, which will need an additional 2,000 MW by 2030 to address the growing electricity demand on the island.

Based on the Philippine Energy Plan, Visayas will need at least 100 MW of fresh capacity a year starting 2015.

The DOE has so far listed for Visayas only five committed power projects, or those projects that are firmly expected to push through as these have already complied with the necessary permits and clearances of various agencies and concerned local governments and are in the process of financial closing.

These are the 8-MW Villa Siga hydroelectric power plant; Energy Development Corp.’s 20-MW Nasulo geothermal project; Asian Energy’s 4-MW biomass project; the 8-MW Cantakoy hydropower project; and the two 135-MW coal facilities of Palm Concepcion.

There are 13 indicative power projects, or those that are in different stages of project development and have not yet reached financial closing. These include the 82-MW expansion of the coal facility of Panay Energy Development Corp. of the Metrobank Group and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.’s 54-MW Guimaras wind farm.