Meralco PowerGen Corp. said it is seeking clarification from the Department of Energy on its decision to recall its previous grant of exemption from the coal ban of the 1,200-megawatt Atimonan ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant.
The DOE issued the acknowledgment of non-coverage letter for the Atimonan coal plant on the coal ban, but decided to recall its decision last week pending additional review.
“I’m trying to clarify what aspect of the project will be reviewed… I’m hoping that we can still get this review done sooner rather than later…They’re aware that when they granted the, when they issued a letter, that I’m planning to bring this to our board for approval around June,” MGen president Emmanuel Rubio said at the sidelines of the Giga Summit 2025.
He said MGen aims to deliver the baseload capacity by late 2029 early 2030, “in time for us to participate in the baseload capacity auction that the DOE is planning for December.”
“Our commitment is that the LCOE (levelized cost of energy) of this is going to be probably one of the most competitive and it’s needed, the capacity is needed,” Rubio said.
He said MGen had met the conditions set by the DOE when it issued the exemption, which included repurposing the coal plant by 2050 to burn another type of fuel.
He said that if MGen does not comply with the conditions, it cannot operate the coal plant.
“We’re looking at technologies like ammonia co firing as long as it’s viable, right? Then we will consider. So even in the in the discussions with our EPCs (engineering, procurement and construction), we already asking them to make sure that the boiler can co-fire ammonia,” he said.
Rubio said another DOE condition is to maintain all the all the permits before and do not change the configuration.
Meanwhile, MGen is focusing on developing the 82-M Toledo coal-fired power plant in Cebu after the DOE certified its exemption from the coal ban.
Rubio said negotiations are ongoing with Formosa Heavy Industries as possible EPC contractor for the plant.
“We were surprised with the cost of the project that we got from FHI. but there are alternatives, again, but the concern is that we need to keep it to the specifications that we got the ECCs [environmental compliance certificate] for 82 MW,” he said.
He said they are keen on developing the plant given the need for additional baseload capacity in the Visayas region.
