Philippines: Residents urge ERC to issue PSA on coal plant project in Atimonan, Quezon

Philippines: Residents urge ERC to issue PSA on coal plant project in
Atimonan, Quezon

RESIDENTS OF ATIMONAN, QUEZON PICKETED THE ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
(ERC) TUESDAY, ASKING THE BODY TO APPROVE THE MUCH-DELAYED POWER SUPPLY
AGREEMENT (PSA) FOR MGEN'S ATIMONAN ONE ENERGY INC. POWER PLANT.

Civil service group SMM BALTAK (Samahan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng
Balubad, Lubi, Talaba at Kilait) were joined by representatives from
non-government organizations (NGOs) and Atimonanin residents to express
their support for the coal-fired plant project at the ERC office in Pasig
City.

There is a pending PSA for the 1,200 megawatt (MW) coal plant, set to be
built in Barangay Villa in downtown Atimonan. But more than a year now, the
PSA remained unsigned even after the shift in the administration.

SMM BALTAK chairman and spokesperson Greg T. De Gracia said that the
previous ERC officials were not appointed in the Duterte administration,
thus affecting Atimonan One's application status.

De Gracia also said that the coal plant project has become an urgent case
not only in the Quezon town but the rest of the Luzon region due to the
upcoming power supply shortage in the next few years.

"Nais naming magsimula na ito sa lalong madaling panahon. Malakas ang
suporta naming mga residente sa proyektong ito," he added.

The Atimonan One Energy coal project is one of the seven PSA contracts
entered by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and its affiliated
generation companies submitted to the Commission on April 30, 2016, in which
the corresponding applications for contract approval were filed.

The other suppliers are Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), Redondo
Peninsula Energy Inc., St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., Central Luzon
Premier Power Corp., Mariveles Power Generation Corp., and Global Luzon
Energy Development Corp.

Meralco and its sister generators contracted a power capacity of 3,551 MW
and would cover all Metro Manila, as well as industrial areas like Cavite,
Bulacan, and Rizal, plus Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, and Pampanga.

The call for more PSAs was brought upon by the unscheduled power outages on
November 15, 2016 in Sta. Rita, San Gabriel, San Lorenzo and QPPL in
Batangas, affecting Meralco-supplied areas in Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, Quezon
as well as other parts of Metro Manila.

This resulted in the loss of about 1,400 to 1,600 MW of power from the grid.

Prior to the incident, the Department of Energy and ERC mandated the
Distribution Utilities to conduct a competitive selection process in
entering into power supply agreements, with the intent to open PSAs to
competitive bidding and avoid self-negotiated generation cost.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Link to Original Article:
http://powerphilippines.com/2017/07/05/residents-urge-erc-issue-psa-coal-pla
nt-project-atimonan-quezon/

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com