Lopez-controlled First Gen Corp. launched on Friday its 414-megawatt San Gabriel combined-cycle and 97-MW Avion open cycle natural gas-fired power plants in Santa Rita, Batangas, both of which run on natural gas—a fuel that produces, on average, 70 percent less emissions than coal when burned.
“It’s critical that the country looks ahead and anticipates the trajectory of technology and other forces ultimately steering us toward a decarbonized world,” First Gen chair and CEO Federico Lopez said in his speech during the plants’ inauguration. “We have the opportunity to leapfrog old 20th-century technology, like coal plants, and instead build for the 21st.”
In constructing San Gabriel, First Gen tapped Siemens AG for the German company’s latest, highly flexible and 59-percent efficient gas turbine technology, called “Flex-Plant.” San Gabriel marks the first time that Siemens has brought a Flex-Plant to the country. The technology helps enable a more stable and reliable grid amid increasing installations of intermittent energy.
The San Gabriel Flex-Plant can be turned on and off on a daily basis in time to serve the power requirements of schools, offices and shopping malls. Unlike other plants, it can be brought online in 10 minutes and ramped up to full capacity in as quickly as 32 minutes. San Gabriel also has the ability of being a baseload power plant providing 24/7 service.
Avion, meanwhile, is the first power plant in the Philippines to run on aircraft engines for land-based power generation application. It will use two units of the LM6000 PC Sprint aero-derivative gas turbines from General Electric.
The Avion power plant has the capability to run not only on natural gas but also on diesel. Avion’s turbines can be online in 7 minutes and can achieve full load in less than 20 minutes. Avion has the capability to do unlimited daily starts and stops to provide power that can stabilize the grid.