Semirara unit to pursue coal-fired power projects in Batangas

Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) on Tuesday said it was breaking off a four-year-old joint venture pact with Manila Electric Co. to build 700 megawatts of coal-fired generation capacity in Batangas province.

Semirara said in a disclosure that St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. had agreed with Meralco Powergen Corp. last Nov. 9 to end a joint venture agreement (JVA) signed in April 2016.

The JVA was related to building, owning and operating two 350-MW units of “subcritical boiler” generators in Calaca town, where other SMPC subsidiaries operate existing power plants.

The planned new generators would serve as additional expansion units for the formerly state-owned Calaca power plant.

Semirara acquired under privatization two 300-MW generators in 2009 and added two 150-MW generators now being operated by South Luzon Power Generation Corp.

In 2016, with St. Raphael established as a 50-50 joint venture with MGen, Semirara announced the appropriation of P2.5 billion from retained earnings for the financing of the two 350-MW units.

With the termination of the joint venture, Semirara will reacquire MGen’s equity shareholdings in St. Raphael, the latter reverting into a wholly owned subsidiary.

MGen’s 500-MW San Buenaventura super-critical coal-fired power plant going online in Quezon province in September 2019, the Meralco subsidiary is now focused on developing the 1,200-MW Atimonan One ultra supercritical coal-fired power plant, also in Quezon.

Beyond coal, MGen is pushing to build over the next five to seven years a renewable energy portfolio of between 1,000 MW and 2,000 MW, including solar, wind and hydro power projects. INQ