A Brown putting up 200-MW coal plant in Iloilo

MANILA, Philippines - A. Brown Co. Inc. (ABCI), the investment arm of businessman Walter Brown, is putting up a 200-megawatt (MW) clean coal-fired power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo.

ABCI vice president Roel Castro said the company, however, will start to build the first phase which is 100 MW.

Castro said they expect the financing closure by fourth quarter this year with estimated project cost of $200 million or P9 billion.

He said they would expand the project by another 100 MW if they would be able to enter into supply contracts.

“The second 100 MW will be assessed once the first 100 MW has been on commercial dispatch already. This will depend on the market situation by then,” Castro said.

If they would be able start construction last quarter of this year, Castro said they could go on commercial operation by 2014.

According to Castro, the power plant would help address the supply need of the Visayas region in the medium-term.

“The Concepcion plant is geared at addressing the projected power shortage in the Visayas by 2013-14 caused by demand growth and decreasing dependable capacities of old plants,” he said.

He said they expect to contract the entire 100 MW. “New and existing large industrial and commercial off-takers and distribution utilities (DUs) have expressed their interest to conract the capacity of the concepcion plant for the security of their power supply requirements,” he said.

But Castro said they would also be trading some of the capacity from the Concepcion power plant to the wholesale electricity sport market (WESM).

In late 2010, ABCI consummated the purchase of the majority stake of Concepcion plant from DMCI Power Corp.

“By December 2010, we finish majority of the documentary and reportorial requirements. This included the public announcements by both listed companies,” he said.

ABCI, also in the late 2010, formed two subsidiaries, Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. (PTCH) and Panay Consolidated Holdings Corp. (PCLH) to handle the purchase of the Concepcion plant.