Malaya power plant poses reliability issues

MANILA, Philippines - The 600-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant in Rizal may not be a reliable source of additional power for the summer of 2015, its owner, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), said.

PSALM president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said it is now uncertain if the power plant can be available from March to June 2015.

“The technical difficulties encountered by Malaya Thermal Power Plant make its availability and dependability during the Malampaya shutdown from March to June 2015 uncertain,” Ledesma said.

The facility, a 40-year old plant, is composed of two units, with capacities of 290 megawatts and 340 MW.

Ledesma said Malaya Unit 1 has not been operating since March 21 due to a material loss of turbine rotating parts that lead to the high turbine vibration.

He said while PSALM is targeting to complete the overhauling by yearend, the contractor may discover a more extensive damage.

“Ideally, Malaya Unit 1’s overhauling will be completed before yearend, assuming a 90-day completion period. The PSALM Bids and Awards Committee will be conducting the post-qualification of the negotiated procurement based on emergency cases this month. However, it is very likely that, upon actual opening of the unit by the contractor, a more extensive damage would be discovered. This contingency would result in an extended completion period,” he said.

Malaya Unit 2, for its part, is now available after undergoing repair last Oct. 3 due to a leak on its fuel oil heater.

However, Ledesma said Malaya Unit 2 is also due for overhauling.

He said even if Malaya Unit 1’s repair would be successful, PSALM cannot be sure of its 100 percent reliable operation.

“Even assuming that the repair of Malaya Unit 1 shall have been successful, Malaya’s 100 percent reliable operation still cannot be guaranteed, given its age, continuous and longer dispatch at full capacity, and fuel delivery constraints,” he said.

PSALM said since the Malampaya shutdown in November 2013, Malaya Unit 1 had been in operation for 208.07 hours until its manual tripping on March 21, 2014. On the other hand, the total number of operating hours for Malaya Unit 2 since November 2013 until its shutdown last Sept. 22 is 2301.38.

Malaya is supposed to be one of the facilities the government was eyeing to augment next summer’s power crunch.

The Philippines would need 9,011 MW of power next year, higher than this year’s demand of 8,717 MW on the back of the projected growth in the economy.

President Aquino has already asked Congress for authority to tap additional power capacity by renting bunker-fired modular generator sets.

Under the Department of Energy’s plan, the government, through PSALM would rent bunker-fueled power facilities to fill up the projected shortfall of 300 to 500 MW.

The special authority, possible through Sec. 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the landmark power reform law, will enable PSALM to tap additional capacity for the summer of 2015.