Aboitiz Power Corp. is looking at adding 1,200 megawatts to its capacity through a liquefied natural gas venture, president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Rubio said yesterday.
The company, partly owned by Japan’s biggest power generator JERA, is undertaking feasibility studies for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project before finalising the investment, Rubio told local news channel ANC in an interview.
The project will likely include an imported LNG terminal, which he said might be built in Pagbilao in the Quezon province on the main Luzon island, where it operates coal-fired power plants.
“There are a number of options, a number of plant configurations. Should we go for 1,200 (MW) right away or do 600 first? All of these are actually now being considered,” he said.
The LNG-fired plant could come in to meet baseload requirement by 2028 to 2030, he said.
The Department of Energy has approved seven LNG terminal projects, including two facilities scheduled to operate starting this year to fuel existing power plants that ran on the country’s dwindling Malampaya natural gas output.
Aboitiz is also studying venturing into nuclear energy and has been in talks with a number of small modular reactor (SMR) technology providers, including US-based NuScale Power Corp., Rubio said. — Reuters
