Semirara Mining Corp. said Monday that operations of its Calaca coal-fired power plant and the construction of additional units to expand it are getting back on track with only minor damage from the recent typhoon.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Semirara said Calaca’s two power generating units as well as the coal-fired Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) power plant project that is under construction were “not seriously affected” by Typhoon “Glenda.”
“Both units tripped last July 16, 2014 due to system frequency disturbance (transmission failure),” Semirara said in the disclosure. As of 12:22 a.m. July 18, Unit 1 was already back on line, while Unit 2 was expected to be synchronized to the grid by Monday, the company said.
Vice chair and CEO Isidro Consunji said in a text message that the tripping caused tube leaks which delayed startup of Unit 2 to until Monday evening. It is expected to be online by then, he said. “Other damage may cost P100 million in total,” he said.
Facilities that suffered damage included the beaching pier, guest house, coal yard space frame cover. The extent of the damage is currently being validated, but are not expected to adversely affect the commercial operations of the plant, Semirara had said in its disclosure.
“As for the ongoing 2×150 megawatt (MW) coal fired CFB power plant project under our wholly-owned subsidiary Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. at Calaca, Batangas, we received no report of any serious damage to the main structures, except for some minor damage to the coal yard space frame cover,” the statement said.
Consunji said completion of the first unit is expected at the end of first quarter of 2015, while the second unit should be up and running by the end of second quarter that same year.
Earlier, Semirara said it was putting up four additional coal-fired power plants in Calaca, Batangas, as its board approved the firm’s plan to invest on new facilities for phase two of the project.
Semirara disclosed in November 2013 that it gained board approval on putting up additional 600MW in power generation capacity by building four units of 150MW CFB power plants.
“The initial plan is to implement this in phases, and the timing of implementation is now being deliberated by management including the type of equipment to be used,” Semirara said.
The additional facilities are being built in Calaca, Batangas, where SEM-Calaca Power Corp.’s existing 600-MW coal-fired thermal power plant is located.