Ilijan gas plant to be turned over to San Miguel

The government will be turning over the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas City to San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) power arm SMC Global Power Holdings (SMCGP), the Department of Energy (DOE) said. 

Energy Usec. Felix William Fuentebella said that government-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) is preparing for the turnover to SMCGP.

SMC Global Power, through subsidiary South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC), is Ilijan’s independent power producer administrator (IPPA). 

“There are ongoing turnover activities from May to June. We asked them to visit the plant. We need to look into the details of fuel and power output relating to whether there will be red or yellow alerts going to happen,” Fuentebella said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

The decision to visit the plant is based on the DOE’s “best-case scenario,” wherein there would be no red or yellow alerts in the Luzon Grid. However, forced outages of power plants can result in yellow alerts. 

“We have to immediately respond to whatever scenario that may happen. That’s why we are visiting [the power plant],” Fuentebella said. 

Under the IPP administration agreement between SMCGP and PSALM, the turnover of the Ilijan power plant is scheduled for June this year. 

Last year, SMCGP wanted PSALM to give up the plant’s control and ownership in its favor by advancing in full its monthly payments ahead of the turnover under its IPPA agreement, to which the latter rejected. SPPC was designated as the plant’s IPPA in 2010.