Responding to the dire need to augment the supply of power in the region, Aboitiz Power Corp. is mulling the building of a new coal plant as a third unit of the 340-megawatt Therma Visayas Inc., or TVI.

In an interview, AboitizPower President and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said the company will conduct binding bids for engineering, procurement, and construction, or EPC, contracts in the next two weeks for its planned unit.

AboitizPower already presented to the Department of Energy, or DOE, the possibility of constructing a third unit for TVI ranging from 130 MW to 150 MW aligned with the original plan for the project.

According to Rubio, a third unit for the coal-fired power plant could be liquefied natural gas or solar energy. However, he pointed out that developing coal fuel remains to be the most cost-effective option to generate 150 MW in the area.

Part of the original design

“If DoE will allow us to build it because of the moratorium. TVI unit 3 already has that permit because it is part of the original design of the TVI.

We already have an ECC (environmental compliance certificate). If we are going to be strict about it, it should be outside the moratorium, we asked DoE for a certification and we got that,” Rubio said.

“We are looking at delivering this unit by 2027. Once we receive binding offers from EPC, we will go to our board for approval.”

We have the certification from DoE allowing this to be built and recognizing the need for self-sufficiency in Cebu and the endorsement from the government and Governor Gwen (Garcia),” he added.

Rubio even affirmed that the company could generate funding for the project.

Looking for financing

“We are looking for financing and it looks like we can get financing. If ever, significant capital investment will only be for the boiler and steam turbine generator and another coal dome,” he said.

Aboitiz Power had previously announced its plan to invest around P190 billion over the next 10 years to add 3,700 MW of renewable energy to its portfolio.

The move will grow the company’s capacity to 4,600 MW by 2030, three times its current renewable energy portfolio.

The company has almost 1,000 MW of wind and solar farm projects and geothermal capacities in the pipeline.

New RE capacity

This year, it plans to complete up to 400 MW of new renewable energy power capacity from solar and geothermal sources.

Aboitiz Power has several upcoming new RE capacities, including a 17 MW binary geothermal power plant in Tiwi, Albay; a 159 MW solar plant in Laoag, Pangasinan; a 173 MW solar project in Calatrava, Negros Occidental; and another 44 MW solar plant in Armenia, Tarlac. These projects are all expected to come online within the year.