The latest initiative already includes Meralco PowerGen’s coal-fired station in Subic which awaits the issuance of its environmental compliance certificate for the second unit of 300MW capacity.
Meralco president and CEO Oscar Reyes was quoted by the mb.com.ph as saying that a coal-fired plant of that scale is expected to cost $1.2bn to $1.3bn; and costs for two facilities may reach $2.5bn.
"That will be total project cost, $2.5 billion. The cost of building a coal plant would range from $2.0-$2.5 million per megawatt," Reyes added.
"Our strategic intent is to build new highly efficient, environmentally sound and reliable combined-cycle baseload and mid-merit plants of up to 2,700 megawatts over the next five years, mindful of the supply and demand outlook as well as the company’s load growth target areas, to spur national development."
The coal-fed generation plant, which is expected to Meralco’s requirement for baseload capacity, will be in the priority project development plan of the company’s power generation subsidiary.
Meralco revealed to Philippines stock exchange that it was looking for coal-fired and liquid natural gas-fired power generation opportunities to meet demand as well as replace plants in its franchise area.
