SMC eyes reopening of Ilijan plant next month

MANILA, Philippines — Conglomerate San Miguel Corp., through its power arm SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP), is looking to provide much needed stability in the power supply of the country starting next month with the reopening of its 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan natural gas plant.

SMC said the Ilijan plant in Batangas is targeted to be reintegrated to the national grid by May 26, helping boost supply amid the projected high demand in the summer months and in the coming years.

“With the reintegration of the Ilijan power plant into the power grid system, the country will be better assured of energy supply security these coming summer months and beyond,” SMC president Ramon Ang said.

“Hopefully, with all available power facilities operating--with no plants breaking down or going on unscheduled shutdown--we will have more than enough capacity for the rest of the year, and consumers will not have to experience brownouts or supply rotations,” he said.

Ang expressed confidence of meeting the target reintegration date for the Ilijan plant following significant progress made in the ongoing construction of the country’s first LNG import terminal by AG&P.

The Ilijan plant, which has historically contributed up to 10 percent of Luzon’s net reliable capacity, has been on extended outage since June last year and is undergoing  retrofitting works in the meantime.

Its reopening will be made possible as SMGP recently took delivery of the country’s first-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo that will fuel the power facility.

AG&P has brought to the Philippines the country’s maiden LNG cargo following the arrival and successful berthing of the ISH floating storage unit (FSU) at its Philippines LNG import terminal in Batangas Bay.

Ang said that the LNG shipment, 137,000-billion cubic meters in all, had been waiting in an FSU in Subic Bay pending completion of the full-scale LNG terminal, particularly its jetty facilities.

Following the jetty facilities’ recent completion, the FSU finally berthed and connected to the LNG terminal, marking the start of commissioning of the facility.

SMC said this involved the cooling down of the cryogenic lines of the facility, in preparation for the delivery of processed natural gas – which in turn will serve as fuel to the Ilijan plant.

The company said the new terminal is the first of several to be opened in the Philippines starting this year, as the country ramps up importation of LNG as part of government’s efforts to ensure supply security, and transition to cleaner sources of power.

Along with the expansion of its LNG capacities and investments in renewables, SMGP’s larger energy transition plan involves the development of a nationwide Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

SMC is eyeing to complete this year one of the largest integrated battery storage networks in the world--a total of 32 battery storage stations which will have a combined capacity of 1,000 MW.

BESS can be used to bridge the energy security gap by storing excess energy when it is available, and releasing it when demand is high.