The much-awaited Ilijan gas-fired power plant is set to resume operations by May 26 to help augment supply in the Luzon grid, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said last week.
In a statement, San Miguel—which is the country’s largest power generation group—said the target date was set following the delivery of the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific International Holdings’ (AG&P) LNG terminal.
“With the reintegration of the Ilijan power plant into the power grid system, the country will be better assured of energy supply security these coming summer months and beyond,” San Miguel president and CEO Ramon Ang said.
“Hopefully, with all available power facilities operating—with no plants breaking down or going on unscheduled shutdown— we will have more than enough capacity for the rest of the year and consumers will not have to experience brownouts or supply rotations,” he added.
The 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan plant has been on a prolonged outage since June 2022 due to the cessation of supply deliveries from the depleting Malampaya gas field.
LNG fuel delivery
San Miguel has since taken over operations of the Ilijan plant through its subsidiary, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.
Ang noted that the LNG shipment of 137,000 billion cubic meters had been stored in a floating storage unit in Subic Bay pending the completion of the full-scale terminal, particularly its jetty facilities.
Commissioning of the facility began last month in preparation for the delivery of the processed natural gas, which in turn will serve as fuel to the Ilijan plant, according to San Miguel.
The conglomerate is placing its bets on LNG to help the Philippines veer away from coal power “without compromising the continuing need of people and economies for affordable and reliable baseload power.”
A recent report by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said that the reintegration of the Ilijan plant was crucial in meeting power demand in the Luzon grid, as it warned of yellow alerts due to tight supply.
Yellow alerts are issued when energy reserves fall below ideal levels.
As of Saturday, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines said supply in the Luzon grid stood at 12,916 MW while demand was at 10,468 MW.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines projected demand in Luzon to peak at 13,125 MW this year. INQ