Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) subsidiary Meralco Power Gen Corp. (MGen) remains interested in developing its baseload power plant project in Atimonan, Quezon.
But the power distributor acknowledged it is undecided at this point on how to pursue the project, whether the facility be a natural-gas fired power plant or stick with the original plan to put up a coal-fired power plant instead.
“Right now we are licensed, permitted, and authorized to do a coal plant. We don’t know yet whether we stay with coal or we switch to natural gas. The inclination is to stay with coal because if it’s gas, we have to put up a terminal, a re-gas facility,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, MGen chairman, told reporters.
Last year, MGen subsidiary Atimonan One Energy Inc. sought Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) approval for the development of a 4×6000-megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Quezon Province.
MGen has considered pursuing the project as a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant as originally planned given the project already secured approvals and permits prior to the moratorium on coal power plant projects in October 2020.
Emmanuel Rubio, MGen president and chief executive officer, said the business had been issued an environmental compliance certificate for the coal-fired power plant project.
“We’re trying to get DOE certification that is really outside the moratorium to start the discussions on a system impact study (SIS), an engineering study. That’s where we are,” Rubio said. An SIS evaluates the impact of any interconnection or transmission proposal on the safety and stability of the electrical grid as a whole.
Rubio also said the project is part of an active list as a coal plant. There had been revisions to the list in the past.
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