Batangas Clean Energy Inc., the 50:50 joint venture of ACE Enexor Inc. of the Ayala Group and Gen X Energy LLC of US-based Blackstone Inc., is developing a 1,200-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Batangas province at a cost of P50 billion.
“BCE’s CCGT Power Plant is one of a handful of projects in the Philippines that is in advanced stages of development,” Batangas Clean Energy said in a report to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau.
BCE said it is developing the project to meet the Philippines’ growing demand for power by providing a reliable, affordable and sustainable source of firm base-load generation.
It said the Department of Energy highlighted the need for new firm capacity to come online by as early as 2025 with the imminent depletion of the Malampaya gas field, which fuels about 30 percent of Luzon grid’s generation, an aging fleet of power plants and the moratorium on new base-load coal plants.
The project will also reduce the country’s carbon footprint by diversifying the Philippine’s generation mix away from coal and oil and accelerate the integration of intermittent renewable energy projects by providing flexible CCGT generation to the grid.
It will also underwrite the introduction of LNG and the development of the downstream natural gas industry in the country by serving as an anchor customer for an LNG import facility.
The project will also explore the potential of hydrogen as a new energy source for the Philippines while contributing to the economic and social development of Batangas and the country.
BCE said it would source natural gas from a nearby liquefied natural gas import facility as fuel for the power plant.
It said the power plant would have the flexibility to burn up to 50 percent green hydrogen as a supplemental fuel when hydrogen becomes commercially available and supply 5 percent to 10 percent of Luzon grid’s power requirements.
The project was certified by the DOE as an energy project of national significance and forms part of the next generation of CCGT power plants that will help transition the Philippines away from more carbon-intensive coal and oil-fired baseload generation.
BCE said that once completed, it would be among the first plants in the country to have the flexibility to use zero-emission hydrogen as a supplemental fuel.
The project will be built in Barangay Libjo and Barangay Malitam in Batangas City. It is scheduled to start construction by 2023, achieve commercial operations by the second half of 2026 and operate for 25 years or longer.
The project’s P50-billion total investment will rank among one of the largest industrial investments in Batangas City.