Atimonan One Energy Inc., a power producer controlled by Meralco PowerGen Corp., shortlisted three engineering, procurement and construction contractors for the 1,200-megawatt supercritical pulverized coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon.
The company will start talks on project financing soon and select the EPC contractor by the fourth quarter.
“Selection of preferred EPC contractor is targeted in the fourth quarter of 2016. Site preparation is targeted to start in mid-2017. Target completion of unit is late 2021,” Meralco PowerGen senior vice president Angelito Lantin said.
MGen is also in talks with “a number of potential partners, all with experience in development, construction and operations of super-critical coal-fired power plants, and a strong appetite for Philippine investments.”
Meralco PowerGen also expects to conclude the selection of a preferred development partner by early 2017.
Atimonan One already signed a 20-year power supply agreement with Meralco for the full output of the power plant. The supply contract is pending approval with the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The project received an environmental compliance certificate from the Environment Department on Oct. 13, 2015, while the certificate of land use conversion for the project was received in March.
Full control of the project area is now complete.
Construction of the resettlement site is ongoing with plans to complete the construction and handover to the affected households in the first quarter next year to allow main project construction to proceed on schedule.
The Atimonan project is one of several power projects lined up by Meralco PowerGen totaling 3,000 MW.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes earlier said Meralco PowerGen was studying the power generation mix of the country and the role of additional coal-fired power plants.
“Our 3,000-MW aspiration for our power generation portfolio will be built through a mix of brownfield and greenfield developments as well as acquisitions. We remain committed to be part of the solution to the current power situation to sustain economic growth,” Reyes said.
Reyes said while there were indications of an oversupply scenario by 2021 and 2022, the company was also looking at demand growth that would fuel the need for additional capacity.
“That’s what happened in 1989. Nobody expected that the Philippine economy will shoot up, so there was pent-up demand that was not seen and became visible especially during the Ramos administration, that’s why there were brownouts,” he said.