Subic coal consortium withdraws from 660-megawatt coal project.

The consortium behind Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. pulled out of the planned 660-megawatt coal-fired facility in Zambales province.

RP Energy is a joint venture among Meralco PowerGen Corp., a unit of Manila Electric Co., Therma Power Inc. of the Aboitiz Group and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

Aboitiz Power Corp. president Emmanuel Rubio said the company was now looking at the site as a possible gas project in the future.

“We are partners with Meralco and RP Energy and since we have communicated with RP Energy, we will not be building coal anymore, that we are actually reserving that site for possible gas option to supply as CSP [competitive selection process] by Meralco or any other DU [distribution utility] that we have a CSP say for mid-merit and even for an NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines] provider for ancillary services,” Rubio said.

Rubio said that for baseload power plants or those that could run 24/7, Aboitiz Power was always looking at the gas option.

28 April 2021

IEEFA