The Energy Department allowed three large power projects in Batangas province with combined capacity of 3,360 megawatts to proceed with grid impact study.
A clearance for a grid impact study is a requisite for the construction of a power project.
The department allowed First Gen Ecopower Solutions Inc. to conduct the system impact study for its planned 1,260-MW Santa Maria combined-cycle power project.
It also approved the request of Panasia Energy Inc. for the same study for its 1,200-MW combined cycle power plant in Barangay Ilijan, Batangas City
The department cleared Lloyds Energy Philippines Inc. to conduct the study for its planned 1,200-MW floating power plant in San Pascual, Batangas.
Batangas hosts the country’s natural gas facilities powered by the Malampaya project in northwest Palawan. These include the 1,000-MW Santa Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, 420-MW San Gabriel, 97-MW Avion and 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas plants.
Several coal plants are also located in Batangas such as South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.’s 224-MW coal plant in Calaca and the coal plants of Semirara Mining and Power Corp.
Batangas also has several renewable energy project such as the Maibarara geothermal project and some solar projects.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said there was a need to augment power supply in the Luzon grid.
“We need to continuously augment our reserves through building new plants, increasing grid capacity and investing more in transmission lines,” Cusi said earlier.
The Luzon grid was placed on a yellow alert status for several hours on Monday and Tuesday this week because of the thin reserves.