Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. will put up three coal-fired power plants in Mindanao with a combined capacity of 174 megawatts, a top executive said.
San Miguel president Ramon Ang told reporters the new power plants in Jolo, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan would significantly reduce the power rates in those areas.
He said the government was presently supplying the said areas with electricity at a cost of up to P15 per kilowatt-hour, while the company could sell electricity for as low as P3 per kWh.
“For our Mindanao project, we have plan to put up a power plant in Jolo, Sulu as a 58-MW, coal-fired CFB [circulating fluidized bed]. Also [we have] intention to put up another one in Basilan and also one in Tawi Tawi. All [with] 58-MW [capacity],” Ang said.
He said the National Power Corp. was currently supplying Jolo, Sulu with a 25-MW plant at P15 per kWh.
“What I’m offering is, whatever support they [Napocor] give, they give to me. I will give them 58 MW. They will not lose anything. Give it to San Miguel in writing and in the next 10 years, and we will in exchange give you 58 MW,” Ang said.
Ang said a stable and low-cost power supply “will create a very good growth.”
“If I will be given the contract, I should be able to put this in two and half years,” he said. Ang said he was unfazed by the peace and order situation in Mindanao.
San Miguel announced in June last year it would put up a coal-fired power plant in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.