Kepco eyes TeaM Energy as partner for Ilijan project
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula, The Philippine Star | 07/05/2009 12:37 PM
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MANILA - Power generation giant Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) could tap the Japanese-controlled TeaM Energy as partner for the planned expansion of 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan natural gas-fired power plant in Batangas.
Kepco Philippines general manager for business development Rolando Bacani said TeaM Energy is already part of the facility and is likely to be part of the expansion program.
TeaM Energy, the company that brought out Mirant Philippines, is managed and run by the consortium of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Marubeni Corp.
“They already have a 20-percent stake in Ilijan. We are open to that,” Bacani said.
Kepco is planning to expand the Ilijan facility by an initial capacity of 330 MW.
But Bacani said they are carefully studying the expansion plan due to a lack of assurance there would be enough supply of natural gas to support the expansion.
He said as of the moment, they have decided to put the expansion program but will pursue it as soon as the supply of gas is assured.
The Malampaya deep water-gas-to-power project was supposed to bid out 300 MW in excess capacity but up to now, the Malampaya consortium has yet to award the supply contract.
According to Bacani, there have been initial talks with Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., lead operator of the Malampaya project, for the supply of fuel for their expansion plans but they have yet to negotiate on the price of the natural gas.
“Our expansion has been sidelined (because of the delay in the award of the 300 MW gas supply from Malampaya),” he said.
But Bacani said an option to push through with the planned expansion is through the establishment of a LNG (liquified natural gas) facility in the country.
“If somebody will put up an LNG facility, then that will push us to expand,” he said.
The LNG terminal will ensure the storage of enough imported natural gas for power plants and other uses like in transport and industries.
Aside from Kepco’s Ilijan plant, the Lopez-owned Sta. Rita (1,000 MW) and San Lorenzo (500 MW) natural gas power plants utilize natural gas from the Malampaya project.
Other companies like Callandra and Flying V are eyeing the excess capacity from the Malampaya project for their planned establishment of compressed natural gas stations that would fuel CNG-run buses.
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