Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC), a subsidiary of A Brown Co. Inc., has weaned from Chinese contractors its 135-megawatt, coal-fired facility in Iloilo five years since the generator started commercial operations.
The operations and maintenance of the power plant in Concepcion town is now managed by an all-Filipino team, which took the reins from First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. (NEPC) last Aug. 16.
An affiliate of China Energy Engineering Corporation, NEPC provided the engineering, procurement and construction services to build the power plant as well as the subsequent operations and maintenance services.
“We have been through a lot, including this long running pandemic [that] we have to deal with alongside the daily grind of operating the plant,” PCPC president and chief executive Nicandro R. Fucoy said in a statement.
“But I am very proud of how we at PCPC all adapted and evolved and rose to the challenge even in the face of adversity,” Fucoy said.
He was referring to difficulties that arose with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which coincided with the training of the local team that would succeed the Chinese team.
Fucoy said the PCPC team went through immersions and trainings with Chinese counterparts in order to ensure their readiness for the actual operations.
Aside from Palm Concepcion, A Brown’s energy portfolio includes Peakpower Energy Inc. which operates a fleet of diesel-fired, peaking power plants with an aggregate generating capacity of 55 MW.
These plants that provide supply when electricity demand peaks are spread out across General Santos City, Agusan del Sur and Bukidnon.
There is also Vires Energy Corp., which is in the process of developing a 500-MW floating solar power farm.
Last April, the Department of Energy said it issued a notice for Vires Energy to proceed with plans to build an integrated natural gas-fired power plant and LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage and regasification terminal project in Batangas.