Analysis
Philippine coal-fired generating projects advance 1
Australia selects Solar Dawn and Moree solar projects 4
Australias LNG sector booms amid concerns 5
Vietnam starts trial of competitive power generation market 6
Chinese offshore wind capacity set to grow 7
Juggling Southeast Asias power needs 8
Project tracker
June 2011 11
News
West Asia 13
South Asia 14
Southeast Asia 17
China 19
East Asia 20
Australasia 22
Asia Beat
24
Opportunities
25
Power in Asia www.platts.com
Issue 582 / July 7, 2011
The McGraw-Hill Companies
Philippine coal-fired generating projects advance
In one of a number of developments in the burgeoning coal-fired power generation sector in the Philippines, the Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MPGC) is taking a controlling stake in a project under development in Luzon. The project on the Redondo Peninsula in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales province will eventually comprise two 300-megawatt (MW) sets.
Meanwhile in other developments the board of directors of the local Semirara Mining Corporation has approved investment in a 600-MW coal-fired project at Calaca in Batangas province on Luzon; subsidiaries of the local conglomerates Ayala and Phinma have agreed to construct and operate a 135-MW coal-fired plant, also at Calaca; and the local developer A Brown Co., Inc has confirmed plans for the construction of a 200-MW coal-fired plant at Concepcion in Iloilo.
In the first development, MPGC said on June 27 that it is buying an equity interest in the Subic Bay project by taking an as-yet unspecified but controlling stake in the special purpose vehicle Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc (RP Energy). The special purpose vehicle is currently owned by an equal joint venture between Therma Power, Inc (TPI), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the local Aboitiz Power Corporation, and the Taiwan Cogeneration International Corporation (TCIC), which is the overseas subsidiary of the Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation.
MPGC said that its acquisition of the majority ownership interest is contingent on the execution of a shareholders agreement in the next few weeks, among other conditions. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), which is by far the largest of the countrys power distributors and suppliers.
Meralco noted in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its entry into generation is part of its overall strategy to assist in ensuring efficient, adequate and reliable electricity at cost-competitive rates. Meralco currently buys its power under contract from plants owned by the state-owned National Power Corporation, from independent power producers or from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
Meralco said earlier in 2011 that it plans to invest up to $150 million in a 120-MW to 150-MW oil and gas-fired, combined-cycle peaking plant at Calamba in Laguna province, with initial operation scheduled for the first quarter of 2012. It added at the time that it also planned to build coal or gas-fired baseload capacity, with the aim by 2016 of controlling up to 1,500 MW of plant capable of generating power at a cost lower than Peso 5/kWh ($115/MWh).
Aboitiz Power said in a statement to the Manila bourse that MPGC is expected to take a controlling interest in RP Energy, with TPI and TCIC owning the remaining stake equally. It added that commercial operation of the proposed Subic Bay coal-fired power plant is projected to commence in 2014. The plant is expected to augment the power supply of the Luzon grid.In the first instance the Subic Bay plant will comprise 300 MW of circulating fluidized bed (CFB) capacity, with Aboitiz Power having previously said that the use of CFB technology is intended both to reduce emissions and allow a greater
(continued on page 2)
2 Power in AsiA / issue 582 / July 7, 2011
To reach PlattsE-mail:[email protected]
North AmericaTel:800-PLATTS-8 (toll-free)+1-212-904-3070 (direct)
Latin AmericaTel:+54-11-4804-1890
Europe & Middle EastTel:+44-20-7176-6111
Asia PacificTel:+65-6530-6430
Power in Asia is published twice monthly by Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, registered office: 20 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, England, E14 5LH.
Officers of the Corporation: Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kenneth Vittor, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Jack F. Callahan Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; John Weisenseel, Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations.
Prices, indexes, assessments and other price information published herein are based on material collected from actual market participants. Platts makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the data and other information set forth in this publication (data) or as to the merchantability or fitness for a particular use of the data. Platts assumes no liability in connection with any partys use of the data. Corporate policy prohibits editorial personnel from holding any financial interest in compa-nies they cover and from disclosing information prior to the publication date of an issue.
Copyright 2011 by Platts, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Permission is granted for those registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy material herein for internal reference or personal use only, provided that appro-priate payment is made to the CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, phone (978) 750-8400. Reproduction in any other form, or for any other purpose, is forbidden without express permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. For article reprints con-tact: The YGS Group, phone +1-717-505-9701 x105 Text-only archives available on Dialog File 624, Data Star, Factiva, LexisNexis, and Westlaw.
EditorMartin Daniel [email protected]
tel +44 (0)20 7176 6169 fax +44 (0)20 7176 6670
Editorial Director, European Power Vera Blei
Production Editor Dominic Pilgrim
Editorial Director, Asia Vandana Hari
Editorial Director, Global Power Larry Foster
Manager, Advertisement SalesKacey Comstock
Issue 582 / July 7, 2011
Vice President, EditorialDan Tanz
Platts PresidentLarry Neal
ISSN:
AdvertisingTel : +1-720-548-5508
Platts is a trademark of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The McGraw Hill Companies
09659609Power in Asia
Philippine coal-fired generating projects advance...from page 1
range of coals to be used. The overall project will cost up to Peso 50 billion ($1.15 billion), with the finance expected to include about Peso 33 billion of limited recourse debt.
Aboitiz Power has said that the coal could be sourced from the local mines of the Semirara Mining Corporation and from Indonesia.
The project has been under development for more than five years. In 2008 Taiwans Formosa Heavy Industries was awarded a $200-million contract for boiler and turbine equipment and for related services, with construction then scheduled to start in 2008 and with operation planned from 2011. But the project was deferred in January 2009 and only revived in 2010 after revisiting the power demand and supply situation in the Luzon grid, according to Aboitiz Powers 2010 annual report.
The MPGC acquisition was announced as Meralco said that it had signed a Peso 5 billion facility agreement with the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Trust Department as lead arranger and with the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited as lead manager. The facilities include Peso 500 million of seven-year and Peso 4.5 billion of ten-year notes, with the proceeds from the sale to institutional investors to be used for corporate purposes.
More plant at CalacaThe MPGC investment in the Subic Bay project came less than a week after one of the countrys main coal producers said that its board of directors had approved an investment in 600 MW of new coal-fired generation.
The Semirara Mining Corporation, which is the listed mining and power subsidiary of the local conglomerate DMCI Holdings, Inc, plans to build four 150-MW CFB units at Calaca in Batangas province through a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Semirara Mining had told the Philippine Stock Exchange earlier in June that it might proceed with the 600-MW by itself, rather than with other investors who were said to possibly include Meralco and Japans Marubeni Corporation (see PiA 581/14). But at that stage it cautioned that the proposal was still at the planning stage and remained to be confirmed - a position changed at the June 21 board meeting.
The project is estimated to cost around $900 million, equivalent to $1,500/kW. When Semirara Mining first told the Manila bourse about the project in 2010, it had an estimated cost of $750 million.
Through the SEM-Calaca Power Corporation, Semirara Mining already owns a 600-MW coal-fired plant at the proposed site. SEM-Calaca acquired the two 300-MW units on their privatization in July 2009 for $361.7 million, equivalent to $603/kW.
The two units were commissioned in 1984 and 1995, and financed by Japans Japan Bank for International Cooperation. SEM-Calaca was allowed to buy the plant on a negotiated basis after three privatization attempts failed between May 2005 and October 2007.
A third project, also to be located at Calaca, advanced on June 29 when the Ayala Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary AC Energy Holdings Inc, and
AnAlysis Projects
