ROW woes stalls power plants dev't, too

The right-of-way (ROW) issues hounding the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) have spilled over and affected other potential projects crucial for addressing the country's growing demand for power supply.

Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) president and chief operating officer Maria Cristina Gotianun said during the company's virtual annual stockholders meeting on Monday that it remains keen on pursuing a 700-megawatt (MW) power plant project in the province of Batangas.

According to Gotianun, the ROW issues faced by the NGCP have also been causing delays in the proposed development.

“We remain interested in pursuing the St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. project but due to the legal challenges NGCP is facing from property owners of right-of-way issues, we do not anticipate moving forward with this initiative anytime soon,” Gotianun said.

The company did not specify the particular project of NGCP needed for the project to be viable. Ideally, a power plant requires a transmission line before it starts supplying customers.

The San Raphael power plant is originally eyed to be a 350x2 MW coal-fired power plant under SRPGC, a partnership between SMPC and Manila Electric Co. subsidiary, Meralco PowerGen Corp.

In 2020, however, the joint venture was terminated by mutual agreement. Subsequently, SMPC signed a deed of assignment to fully acquire the project.

Earlier, SMPC had also revealed plans to expand its power generation business further, potentially including an investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is still being studied.

“Regarding the potential LNG project, we are conducting ongoing studies to assess its viability, capital requirements, and the price volatility of natural gas,” Gotianun said.

SMPC is currently the only vertically integrated power producer in the country that mines its fuel source, allowing it to generate affordable baseload power.

During the first quarter, SMPC’s net income declined by 28 percent to P6.5 billion from P9.0 billion a year ago as weaker market prices muted the impact of higher coal shipments and energy sales volume.

SMPC said that the global coal indices declined due to weak demand from developed countries primarily as more of them changed their energy policies amid their respective races to transition to cleaner power resources.