Two natural gas plants overseen by Meralco PowerGen Corp. are expected to deliver 2,500 megawatts of capacity by the end of the month, a top executive said over the weekend.
MGen president Emmanuel Rubio said Unit 3 (425 megawatts) of Excellent Energy Resources Inc.’s (EERI) 1,275-megawatt liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant is now fully operational.
The facility is awaiting completion of Linseed Field Power Corp.’s first onshore storage facility, which is targeted to be finished by the end of the month.
“So by the end of May, 2,500 MW of gas capacity will be available,” Rubio said.
MGen also controls the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, which is also fueled by LNG. Aside from MGen, Aboitiz Power Corp. and San Miguel Corp. owns stakes in the two power plants.
Rubio said the natural gas plants get their LNG supply from Shell and Vitol.
“We have a 10-year contract with Shell and Vitol, but the agreement is that for 2025 and 2026, the trading would be all in spot, but we have not limited ourselves to the spot sale, just these two,” he said.
Rubio said they were hoping to have 15 LNG trading candidates by the end of the year.
“We’re seeing a downward trend, a forward curve of LNG, so we should be okay. Energy prices are going down,” he said.
The Department of Energy previously criticized Manila Electric Co. and EERI for not delivering the full committed capacity under the power supply agreement.
