First Gen’s Sta Rita unit resumes operations

MANILA, Philippines - Unit 20 of the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Sta. Rita combined cycle power plant has resumed operations ahead of target after the replacement of its damaged transformer, Lopez-led First Gen Corp. said.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Gen said it has replaced the unit’s damaged main generator with the spare main transformer.

Investigation showed the main transformer was damaged after a fault occurred during its one month scheduled maintenance outage from July 23 to Aug. 26.

First Gen earlier said Unit 20 was supposed to come back online in the first week of October after deploying the spare main generator transformer stored within the site.

Unit 20, which has a capacity of 250 MW, is one of four units of the Santa Rita power plant in Batangas owned and operated by First Gen subsidiary First Gas Power Corp. (FGPC).

Unit 20 of the Sta. Rita plant was among the nine power plants that went offline when a series yellow and red alerts were raised in the Luzon grid by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) from July 25 to 29.

A yellow alert means means that contingency reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator but does not necessarily lead to power outages.

The Department of Energy (DOE) asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to investigate whether power players employed anti-competitive behavior which led to deficient power supply during the period.

The DOE has also initiated the formation of technical audit teams which will validate the figures submitted by the generating companies and the distribution utilities which will be used in the delivery of quality, reliable, secure and affordable supply of energy.