Aboitiz Power Corporation and MERALCO PowerGen Corporation (MGen) said that they are dropping coal from their power project under Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. (RP Energy) in Subic, Zambales.
Instead, RP Energy — AboitizPower’s joint venture with MGen and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corporation — is looking into building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant within the area of its supposed 600-megawatt facility. MGen is the power generation arm of the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO)
AboitizPower President and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said early stage feasibility studies for gas have already begun on at least two locations.
“[We] will not be building coal anymore, but we are actually reserving that site for a possible gas option to supply [in a] CSP (competitive selection process) by MERALCO or any other DU (distribution utility),” Rubo said during Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ virtual press conference on Monday.
MGen President Rogelio Singson confirmed Rubio’s statement in a separate report by BusinessMirror.
The RP Energy joint venture was formed in 2011, but geological issues and the delay in the approval of the power supply agreement by the Energy Regulatory Commission have stalled the project’s construction.
While the Department of Energy issued a moratorium on the building of new coal plants in October 2020, the initially proposed RP Energy plant is among those exempted, as it has been already committed back then.