Meralco opens for local partners on 1,200-MW Atimonan coal power plant

MANILA – Manila Electric Company (Meralco) Chairman Manny Pangilinan said the company is open for local partners for its 1,200 Megawatt (MW) Atimonan coal power plant.

”If they’re interested why not,” Pangilinan told reporters.

The coal fired power plant, to be built under M-Powergen Corporation (MGen), is estimated to cost USD 2 billion.

MGen said it will have the majority stake in the company.

However, he revealed that its partner for the Atimonan project will likely be a foreign company.

Pangilinan said Meralco is also open to have partners from Asia for the project.

MGen already has started the pre-qualification process for the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC), while the processing for the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) is also on the way.

Subic based Redondo Peninsula Energy (RP Energy) project, on the other hand, is in the process of getting the commercial term of lease and other concerns approval. RP is a consortium composed of MGen, Aboitiz Power Corporation and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

According to Pangilinan, RPE’s EPC will be updated and will have to be renegotiated.

Meanwhile, he said MGen’s 600-MW Subic project will currently not have an expansion due to two incoming projects, namely Atimonan and 1,500 MW San Buenaventura in Quezon.

San Buenaventura was revealed by Pangilinan to have an EPC soon, since there are talks already.

He also said the investment cost for the project is already filled up.

Meralco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President Oscar Reyes said MGen is just awaiting the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval for the EPC on San Buenaventura.

MGen will soon search for financiers on the Php 40 billion project, after the ERC gives the go signal, estimated to be released within 30 days.

Meralco PowerGen Corporation is a full-subsidiary of Meralco, engaged in developing cost-competitive power plants.