MGen to contribute P1 billion to Meralco this year

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen) expects to contribute at least P1 billion to parent firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) this year with the full operations of its supercritical coal-fired power plant in Quezon.

MGen president and CEO Rogelio Singson said the 455-megawatt (MW) San Buenaventura Power Limited Co. (SBPL) power plant in Mauban, Quezon contributed P300 million to Meralco’s net income last year.

This as MGen and New Growth B.V., subsidiary of Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (EGCO), commissioned the power project on Sept. 26, 2019 as scheduled.

“We have contributed to the bottomline of Meralco of about P300 million. We completed the project below budget and on schedule. We are very happy with the outcome of the project,” Singson said.

Meralco president and CEO Ray Espinosa said management is “extremely happy” with MGen’s contribution to the company.

Meralco registered a six percent rise in core profit to a record P23.8 billion last year on the back of strong energy sales.

With income contribution equivalent to one quarter last year, MGen projects to contribute four times the amount this year.

“Possibly, that’s expected because it’s just one quarter,” Singson said. “We expect it.”

Since the start of its operation until end-2019, SBPL was able to deliver 852 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to Meralco.

Singson said this was equivalent to an average plant availability of over 87 percent.

Moreover, SBPL has eased supply within the franchise area as around 630 MW plant capacities went into maintenance shutdown for almost 10 days in the last quarter of 2019.

For the SBPL project, the P56.2-billion power plant was partly funded by a P42.15-billion project finance facility, the Philippines’ largest all-peso transaction to date that was put together by a consortium of local banks.

The power plant was built by a consortium of South Korea’s Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. which are both experienced engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors with very strong track records.

SBPL’s capacity would be sold to Meralco under a 20-year power supply agreement (PSA) approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in 2015.