Ilijan plant fully operational by January

KEPCO-Ilijan Corp. (Keilco), the local power unit of Korea Electric Power Corp., expects full commercial operation of its 1,200 MW Ilijan natural gas-fired plant early next year.

A Keilco official, who requested anonymity, said they are currently conducting a series of commissioning tests to ensure delivery of full capacity of the plant by January 2002.

He noted that presently there are already two gas turbines running at full capacity. He said they need to test another two steam turbines. "We want to assure the public that we will be able to deliver electricity. We want no hassle to environment and the community. That is why we need to conduct more tests."

By end November this year, he said they would reach their full capacity but need to find out if there would be no problem in terms of delivery to the public. "We want to test it first to make it reliable," he said.

The series of tests will run until December. "If we will start end-November, the tests will be over by December. This will allow us to operate at full capacity by early next year," he said.

The 1,200 MW Ilijan natural gas combined cycle power plant project is worth $800 million. It is one of the downstream power plants that will buy the natural gas production of the Malampaya project.

Keilko is actually a joint venture with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), state-owned National Power Corp., and other Japan-based power firms which include Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan, Southern Energy of the US and Kyushu Electric of Japan.

KEPCO is one of the most aggressive companies that have shown a keen interest in developing the downstream industry for the natural gas.