Philippines: First Gen cleared to operate Avion gas-fired plant

Philippines: First Gen cleared to operate Avion gas-fired plant

First Gen Corp. will start commercial operations its 97-megawatt (MW) Avion
natural-gas fired power plant in Batangas City after securing a regulatory
clearance.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Gen said its
wholly-owned unit Prime Meridian Powergen Corp. (PMPC) received yesterday
the certificate of compliance (COC) issued by the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) for the Avion power plant.

"The certificate on the change of status of the Avion plant to commercial
operations is under process with the Philippine Electricity Market Corp.,
operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)," the company said.

A COC is required before any generating company can start operating a power
project.

The Avion plant, located within the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in
Barangay Bolbok, Batangas City, was supposed to deliver power during the
summer months of 2015.

However, the project faced delays after IstroenergoGroup (IEG) and its
Philippine branch company Energy Project Completion Ltd. (EPC), contractors
for turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction, failed to comply
with their obligations.

Thus, PMPC terminated the contracts. Slovakian firm IEG was tapped in August
2014 to construct and commission the Avion plant.

Since then, the Avion plant has been undergoing commissioning and testing
until the COC was issued.

The commissioning and testing phase of the power facility helped in boosting
First Gen's first half income this year, which rose 19 percent from $95
million in 2015 to $113 million.

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Ref:
http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/09/10/1622082/first-gen-cleared-operat
e-avion-gas-fired-plant

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com