Semirara, MGen cutting Batangas coal power deal

Calaca

Consunji-owned Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that it has terminated its four-year joint venture agreement (JVA) with the Meralco Powergen Corporation (MGen) for the construction, ownership, and operation of two 350 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power generation facilities in Calaca, Batangas.

The JVA, which was signed on April 27, 2016 and created the St. Raphael Power Generation Corporation (SRPGC), was terminated effective Monday, November 9. SMPC since then bought out MGen’s share’s in SRPGC, making it a fully-owned subsidiary. Meanwihile, MGen is the power generation arm of the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), the country’s largest power distributor.

MGen officials noted that the parties backed out as they are participating in MERALCO’s competitive power auction and in light of the Department of Energy’s recently-declared moratorium on the building of new coal plants.

The planned new generators would have serve as additional expansion units for SMPC’s Calaca Power Plant, once owned by the National Power Corporation.

 

Photo from SMPC website.