Malampaya project resumes operations

MANILA, Philippines - The Malampaya gas-to-power project in Palawan has resumed its operations, normalizing the power supply situation in the Luzon grid.

“Malampaya was successfully brought online (Friday) evening and exported gas from the platform ahead of schedule,” Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit said in a text message.

“Customers have been receiving gas since late (Friday),” Asirit said.

The Malampaya project, whose natural gas fuels three power plants with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW) or about 40 percent of Luzon’s power generation requirements, underwent a scheduled preventive maintenance on July 13 to 20.

The eight-day maintenance will ensure equipment integrity and complete outstanding maintenance works from its 2011 shutdown, the Energy department said.

Asirit said the natural gas-fired power plants are back to normal operations after the Malampaya shutdown.

The Malampaya project fuels the 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas power plants of First Gen Corp. and the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas plant of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. All plants are located in Batangas.

As of yesterday, the Luzon grid had a 3,123-MW reserve as available capacity hit 8,408 MW while peak demand only reached 5,285 MW, data from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines showed.

“Everyone did their part and delivered to ensure that there is enough power to meet the demand with the least impact to consumers,” Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras said.

During the shutdown, coal plants like the 300-MW Malaya coal plant and the 382-MW Pagbilao plant provided additional output.

However, officials earlier warned that electricity rates are expected to rise anew that will reflect on consumers’ bills next month.

Consumers of Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor, already paid an additional 86 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the past two months, lifting the generation charge to P6.4592 per kWh.