Trans-Asia to expand power portfolio

Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. will push through with its aggressive expansion program to increase its current power generation portfolio by another 500 megawatts.

The program will require investments of up to P47.2 billion.

Trans-Asia Oil president Francisco Viray told reporters that the first phase of the expansion plan included ongoing projects with its partners, namely the P2.8 billion 20-MW Maibabara geothermal power project on Mt. Makiling, which would go on line by 2013, and the P12-billion 135-MW coal-fired power facility in Batangas, expected to become operational by 2014.

Trans-Asia has a 25-percent stake in Maibarara Geothermal Inc., the vehicle company undertaking the geothermal project. The coal facility, meanwhile, is being undertaken with the Ayala-led AC Energy Holdings through a joint venture vehicle called South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC).

For the second phase of the company’s expansion plan, Trans-Asia will build a second 135-MW coal unit in Batangas worth some P10 billion. This project will be undertaken with the Ayala group through SLTEC, Viray said.

Trans-Asia is likewise eyeing a P13-billion 135-MW coal power plant in northern Mindanao, a second 20-MW unit for the Maibarara geothermal project worth another P3 billion, and the P6.4 billion 54-MW wind power project on Guimaras island.

Meanwhile, Viray said that Trans-Asia would allocate at least 200 MW for prospective, qualified customers under the open access and retail competition scheme, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2013.

Qualified customers are large power users that consume 1 MW or more each month. They will be able to choose their own electricity suppliers under the open access regime, unlike in the current system where they are limited to the supplier that has jurisdiction over their respective areas.

According to Viray, the company has already begun talking to these customers, hoping to entice them to sign power supply contracts with Trans-Asia. The capacity will come from the company’s own generating facilities, as well as contracted capacities from other plants that Trans-Asia is now managing.

Currently, Trans-Asia has a 50-percent stake in a 52-MW diesel power plant, which provides all the power requirements of the cement plant of Holcim Philippines Inc. in Bulacan and trades the excess at the wholesale electricity spot market.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Trans-Asia, CIP II Power Corp., owns a 21-MW diesel facility that is being transferred to La Union from its former location at the Carmelray Industrial Park II in Calamba City, Laguna. The capacity will also be traded at the spot market.

The company also has a 3.4-MW diesel facility on Guimaras that supplies power to the island during peak hours. The excess power generated is then sold at WESM.

Trans-Asia is likewise engaged in the administration and management of the entire output of the 116-MW power plant of One Subic Power Generation Corp. and the offtake of up to 15 MW from Sem Calaca Power Corp.—Amy R. Remo