Lopez-led First Gen Corporation recently said over that it plans to open the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Santa Maria natural gas power plant in Batangas either by late 2024 or early 2025.
First Gen President and COO Francis Giles Puno said that the firm previously pre-invested in certain common infrastructure and is currently doing pre-development works. It also is securing permits for the project, which would be powered by two 600MW generators.
Puno further said the LNG plant project would play a critical role to ensuring energy security in Luzon and the entire country given the Malampaya gas field’s depleting resources. First Gen is also building an LNG import terminal in light of Malampaya’s situation.
The plan, according to Puno, was to modify First Gen’s existing jetty facilities in Batangas, so that incoming LNG from other countries can be regasified using a floating storage and regasification unit.
Nonetheless, First Gen Chairman Federico Lopez said noted that the company’s shift to LNG wouldn’t be for long, as it plans for its eventual phaseout in ways that would complement a pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050 and would be consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius target.
First Gen owns and operates the Santa Rita (photo above), Avion, San Gabriel, and San Lorenzo gas plants, all in Batangas City and feeding on fuel from Malampaya, the Philippines’ only major source of natural gas supplying a fifth of the country’s power needs.
Photo courtesy of First Gen website.
