Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28) — Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is targeting to make its 1,200-megawatt Ilijan power facility in Batangas operational again by late next month.
The reintegration of the natural gas plant to the national grid — targeted by May 26 — is seen to help provide stability in the country’s power supply amid the projected high demand in the summer months and in the coming years, SMC said Friday in a statement.
The conglomerate’s power arm SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP) recently took delivery of the country’s first-ever liquefied natural gas cargo that will fuel the Ilijan power plant.
After more than 20 years of supply, the Malampaya consortium in June 2022 said the gas sale purchase agreement with the Ilijan facility had lapsed.
Since then, SMC said the plant has been on extended outage while the energy sector and consumers have been facing tight power supply and higher prices.
Ilijan power plant is the largest natural gas facility in the Philippines. It has historically contributed up to 10% of Luzon’s net reliable capacity, according to SMC.
“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,” said SMC President Ramon Ang said as he expressed confidence about meeting the target date of reopening.
On April 18, the Office of Civil Defense said there’s enough power supply but noted that reserves are thin. The agency, however, expects an increase in the supply as Ilijan LNG Power Plant and the First Gen Power Plant come back on the line.
READ: OCD: Thin reserves despite sufficient power supply
Liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will fuel the Ilijan power plant, is a “transition” fuel, enabling countries to move away from coal power responsibly, without compromising the continuing need of people and economies for affordable and reliable baseload power, SMC noted.
