Trans-Asia, Ayala venture to proceed with coal plant

South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp., the joint venture between Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and Ayala-led AC Energy Holdings Inc., is set to start construction of its 135-megawatt coal facility next year.

Trans-Asia president Francisco L. Viray confirmed plans to finally proceed with the construction of the power plant in Batangas after the company secured an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) for the facility.

The ECC certifies that a project has complied with government requirements and will not cause significant negative impact on the environment.

In November this year, South Luzon Thermal energy signed a P9-billion project loan facility to fund the planned coal-fired power plant.

The loan facility was signed with lenders Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., Security Bank Corp. and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

“The loan will be used to fund the construction of the project, which is expected to be operational by mid-2014,” the two companies earlier said.

Trans-Asia said that the Batangas clean coal project it was undertaking with the Ayala Group would have significantly lower carbon emissions compared with other coal-fired plants.

It explained that clean coal technology relies on a circulating fluidized bed technology that leads to lower carbon, sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

The company estimates that emission rates of clean coal plants are 60 percent to 70 percent lower than those of conventional coal-fired power plants.

Trans-Asia earlier said that it wanted to source its coal mainly from the Consunji-led Semirara Coal Corp., which produces low sulfur coal.

Apart from its planned coal plant in Batangas, Trans-Asia reported that it was also looking to put up a similar 135-MW facility in Mindanao to help shore up the generation capacity on the island.

Should the company proceed with the project, it expects the power plant to start operations by 2015.