Aseagas links Batangas plant to Luzon grid

MANILA, Philippines - Aseagas Corp., a unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., is investing P12.7 million to build a facility that will connect its $50-million biomass power plant in Lian, Batangas to the Luzon grid.

Aseagas has filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to put up dedicated point-to-point limited transmission line facilities.

“To connect the project plant to the transmission system, Aseagas needs to construct dedicated point-to-point limited transmission line facilities,” the firm said.

Aseagas is constructing an 8.8-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant in Lian which is expected to be energized this month.

“To enable the project plant to be energized by October 2015 and to contribute to the rising demand growth, Aseagas needs to immediately test, commission and dispatch the same after completion thereof,” it said.

The proposed point-to-point transmission facility has been cleared by a system impact study (SIS) conducted by JC Electrofields Power System Inc. (JCEPSI) as technically feasible.

Aseagas will spend P12.76 million for the connecting facility, which “shall be funded internally and externally from a pool of generated funds,” it said.

“Further, Aseagas is seeking to undergo negotiations with the [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines] as regards the maintenance and operation of the dedicated point-to-point limited transmission line,” it added.

Originally planned as a liquid biomethane plant, the Aseagas plant will produce transport fuel from organic waste, with a capacity of around 9,000 metric tons of biomethane per year.

It was then converted into a biomass plant, using methane to run offer capacity to the grid through the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme.

FIT is a set of incentives given to power developers to invest in the renewable energy sector.

For biomass, the Department of Energy has put in place an allocation target of 250 MW and a FIT rate of P6.63 per kilowatt hour (kwh).