Aboitiz Power subsidiary to build P80-M line for planned Davao coal-fired plant

Aboitiz Power Corp. subsidiary Therma South Inc. will build an P80-million, 138-kilovolt dedicated point-to-point transmission line for the $546-million, 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant that it is building in Toril, Davao City and Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. Therma South filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission for authority to develop, own, and operate the line and associated assets from the plant to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ new Toril substation. The company said it will finance the cost of the connection assets through loans and will recover it by factoring their cost in the pricing structure of the supply agreements it will subsequently enter into. According to Therma South, the NGCP has already started the grid impact study of connecting the coal plant to the Mindanao grid at the Toril substation. "NGCP and TSI are moving toward the execution of a memorandum of agreement that will provide for the terms of the connection," it said. Bobby Orig, the company’s first vice president for Mindanao affairs, earlier said they hope to complete the first 150-MW unit by the last quarter of 2014 and the remaining 150 MW by 2015. He added that while the plant is capable of being expanded to carry another 300 MW, it is still too early for talk of expansion. "We’re not talking of expanding it yet as of now," he said. Orig also said Therma South is presently negotiating with the electric cooperatives for the plant's supply contracts. [W]e don’t foresee any problem marketing it because of the severe lack of power in Mindanao," he said, noting that the region continues to suffer an electricity shortage of as much as 200 MW of power. — BM, GMA News