By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter
MERALCO PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), has received confirmation from the Department of Energy (DoE) that its 1,273-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plants are exempt from the 2020 coal moratorium.
“We got the confirmation,” MGen President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio said on the sidelines of the BusinessWorld Insights: Energy Security forum on Tuesday.
He was referring to the 1,200-MW Atimonan coal-fired power plant in Quezon province and the 73-MW Toledo coal-fired power plant in Cebu.
However, the confirmation for the Atimonan plant comes with a commitment to no longer use coal as fuel by 2050.
As a result, the company is looking to use ammonia as one of the viable replacements for coal.
Mr. Rubio said the company is now talking to engineering, procurement, and construction contractors for the project.
“Well, today, as we know, developed countries are looking at ammonia. They’re testing co-firing with ammonia, particularly for coal,” he said.
Atimonan One Energy, Inc. (A1E), a subsidiary of MGen, initially proposed to develop a 1,200-MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant for the project site under the environmental compliance certificate issued in 2015.
The company previously dropped its plan and decided to repurpose the coal-fired power project to one that runs on gas.
Based on a project description document submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, A1E proposed instead to develop a 2,400-MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine and a liquefied natural gas terminal with a floating storage unit.
MGen has announced plans to develop the Atimonan facility as a coal plant and expand the 80-MW Toledo facility.
In 2020, the DoE issued a moratorium on the development of new coal-fired power plants.
The government agency earlier clarified that the moratorium does not cover existing and operational coal-fired power generation facilities or any coal-fired power projects considered committed power projects.
Following a thorough review and verification by the Power Bureau, the DoE issues, at the request of a project proponent, a certification that a project is not covered by the moratorium.