SBPL Will Switch On Its 500-MW Supercritical Coal-fired Power Plant in Mauban

SAN Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL) will “switch on” its 500-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon, on Tuesday, injecting the much additional capacity needed in the Luzon grid.

SBPL, a partnership between Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) and New Growth BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (Egco Group) of Thailand, will supply power for 20 years to Meralco, which is Metro Manila’s only electric distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 22 cities and 89 municipalities.

“SBPL’s 500 MW will prove to be a significant contributor for Meralco to fulfill its mandate to provide adequate, reliable supply of electricity at the least cost,” said Meralco Vice President and Head of Regulatory Management Atty. Jose Ronald Valles.

SBPL’s incoming capacity will prove critical in the coming months, particularly in light of the scheduled maintenance shutdowns of Luzon’s biggest power generation suppliers.

Ilijan unit 1 (600 MW) is on planned maintenance for 13 days from October 3 to 15. Also, its capacity will be curtailed from October 16 to 18, 2019.

Sual 2 (647 MW) is also slated to shut down for 30 days from October 19 to November 17, 2019.

San Lorenzo Module 50 (250 MW) is scheduled to go on maintenance for five days on October 26 to 30, 2019.

Masinloc 2 (344 MW) will also be on scheduled outage for 35 days, beginning October 30 to December 4, 2019. The country’s biggest natural gas facility, Malampaya, will not supply fuel to generation facilities from October 12 until October 15, 2019. Malampaya supplies more than 40 percent of Meralco’s power requirement, and provides natural gas fuel for Santa Rita, San Lorenzo, Ilijan, San Gabriel and Avion.

SBPL’s commercial operation date was targeted at September 15, 2019, but was deferred due to questions raised by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on SBPL’s utilization of water rights.

The ERC eventually issued a PAO, or a provisional authority to operate SBPL’s power plant.

“On September 23, ERC received from NWRB [National Water Resources Board] its explanation. ERC lost no time and, hence, on September 24, the PAO was issued to SBPL,” ERC’s Chief Agnes Devanadera said.

ERC said SBPL submitted incomplete requirements, the most important of which was the Conditional Water Permit (CWP). This, it added, was issued in the name of Meralco and not under the name of SBPL.

“A PAO has to be issued instead of a COC [Certificate of Compliance] in view of the other requirements which must be submitted within a specific period of time,” said ERC.

Devanadera said the ERC is mindful of the present supply situation but advised parties to do their share in securing the necessary permits from other agencies. She asked them to be more diligent in their work, and not pass on to ERC the burden of having to divine the documents that they submit.

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