AES working on Masinloc coal plant

MANILA, Philippines - American energy giant AES Corp. is now working on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the 600-megawatt expansion of its 630-MW Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales, a ranking official said.

The company expects to commence construction next year and complete the expansion by 2018, said Neeraj Bhat, AES market business leader for the Philippines.

The expansion is part of the company’s plans to strengthen its presence in the Philippines.

“We’re committed to investing more in the energy sector. That’s the direction we wish to take. We’re working on the 600 MW expansion of the Masinloc power plant,” Bhat said.

According to Bhat, AES is maintaining its 51-percent stake in the plant after selling 45 percent of its interest in the Masinloc facility to independent power producer Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO) Group of Thailand for $453 million last June.

With the sale, AES has a 51-percent stake in Masinloc, EGCO has 41 percent while the International Finance Corp. (IFC) has eight percent.

Aside from the Masinloc expansion, AES is also investing in an energy storage project, which could help support renewable energy projects in the Philippines as this would serve as “batteries” that can work on islands around the country.

“There’s a lot of capacity for energy storage. In island grids such as the Philippines this will be of very good use. This is a technology that’s much better than gensets,” Bhat said.

He said that while construction of the energy storage installations has not started yet, the company is already in talks with potential customers including the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“We’re working on the development with some potential customers, with NGCP being the largest. We’d like to put it in construction in 2015 depending on how the development goes,” he said.

In June, AES president and chief executive officer Andres Gluski said the company is investing $2 billion in the Philippines for the expansion of Masinloc and for its energy storage project.

Of the $2 billion, AES will invest $1.2 billion for the expansion of Masinloc by another 600 MW.

The target commissioning of the plant is in the third quarter of 2017, according to documents from the Department of Energy.

For the energy storage project, Gluski has said the company may invest $300 million or $500 million, depending on the capacity.

According to documents from the Department of Energy, AES Philippines Power Partners is planning to embark on a 40-MW battery storage project in Negros.

The project is among the list of indicative power projects for the Visayas grid, which is expected to come online by March 2015.