23 new power plants to go online by 2020

By Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star), June 15, 2015

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will have 23 new coal-fired power plants by 2020, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said.

Among the new coal plants that are expected to come online in the next five years are Aboitiz company Therma South Inc.’s 300 megawatt plant in Davao City (2016); The 400-MW expansion of Team Energy’s Pagbilao coal fired power plant in Quezon (2017); the 600-MW Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. plant in Subic, Zambales (2018); San Miguel Corp. Global’s 300-MW plant in Davao (2017) and a 600-MW plant in Bataan (2016).

Two power plants will come from Meralco Power Gen. These are the 1,200-MW Atimonan and the 500-MW San Buenaventura coal-fired power plants in Quezon, both slated for 2018.

The Alcantara Group’s Alsons Power is also on track to produce an additional 282 MW by 2016 to meet Mindanao’s growing demand for electricity while Ayala Corp.’s AC Energy Holdings Inc., also acquired a 50 percent interest in South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. which is constructing a 270-MW coal plant in Batangas province in partnership with Trans Asia Oil and Development Corp.

To balance the entry of new coal projects, the Energy department is laying the groundwork for the next round of feed-in-tariff (FIT) quota and the overall integration of RE in the country.

Petilla said the Department of Energy (DOE) continues to push for a higher share of renewable energy in the country’s fuel mix or a target of 30 percent from the current 23 percent.

“You want a good mix in power generation in this country. You should not only look at cost. The goal of this department is to have a good mix taking into consideration pricing, self-sufficiency, health and the environment,” Petilla said.

Under the guidelines, RE would have a 30-percent share while liquefied natural gas (LNG) would account for a 30-percent share as well. The balance would be shared by the existing fuel sources in the country such as coal and diesel among others.

Petilla stressed that the mix is non-firm which means it cannot be mandated in the Philippines because the power generator sector is market driven.

The FIT guarantees RE developers a constant generation rate per kilowatt-hour over the next 20 years.

As of March 2015, the Energy department has so far issued FIT certificates of endorsement to the ERC for 15 RE projects with capacity of 322 MW.

Of the total, hydro projects account for 12.9 MW, wind projects account for 249.9 MW, solar projects account for 36.1 MW and biomass projects account for 23.65 MW, data from the Energy department showed.