A Brown unit finalizes deal with NGCP

MANILA, Philippines - The power unit of A. Brown Co. Inc. has finalized a connection deal with the country’s transmission service provider.

Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) can now transport and sell electricity through the Visayas grid, A. Brown told the local bourse yesterday.

In a disclosure, PCPC said it signed a connection agreement with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“The agreement paves the way, and ensures the dispatch of PCPC’s generation output to its customers via the facilities of system operator NGCP,” PCPC said.

PCPC is the owner and operator of two 135-megawatt (MW) clean coal-fired power plant in Iloilo province.

In July, A. Brown announced it will spend $200 million for the power plant that will supply the growing needs of the Visayas grid.

The first 135-MW unit will be commissioned in the third quarter of 2015 while the second unit will be operational in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The power plant’s output will be delivered through a 40-kilometer double circuit 138-kilovolt overhead transmission line to NGCP’s Barotac Viejo sub-station, PCPC said.

“Our output will now be available to customers of the whole of the Visayas grid via the Negros-Panay and Cebu-Negros submarine cables,” said PCPC president Roel Castro.

Anthony Almeda, chief administrative officer of the NGCP, said the transmission service provider is committed to connect the new power plant to the Visayas grid.

NGCP is a private firm in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid and electricity superhighways.

Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that 2015 will be a critical period for the Visayas grid, which needs an additional capacity of 100 MW, to avert shortages.

The DOE earlier projected an annual electricity demand growth rate of 4.55 percent in the Visayas region.

However, recent figures from 2001-2008 revealed a much higher demand growth rate of 6.3 percent, A. Brown said.

In April, PCPC appointed Canadian-listed construction firm SNC-Lavalin Inc. for engineering works in the power plant.

A. Brown – the investment arm of businessman Walter W. Brown – earlier said that BDO Capital and Investment Corp. will arrange the debt financing requirements for the project.