CEBU Energy Development Corp. (CEDC), the power arm of the Metrobank Group, said on Friday it completed the financing package for its P22-billion clean-coal power plant in Toledo, Cebu, in a bid to alleviate the power situation in the Visayas.
CEDC is a joint venture among Global Business Power Corp. of the Metrobank Group, Aboitiz Power Corp. Vivant Corp., and Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI) of Taiwan.
In a statement, CEDC said 11 banks and insurance companies pledged to lend CEDC P16 billion over 12 years in the deal arranged by investment bank First Metro Investment Corp. last week.
CEDC said the loan is already considered the largest peso-denominated project financing in the Philippines to date.
CEDC’s power project gives a much-needed shot in the arm to Trade Secretary Peter Favila’s economic-stimulus initiative that calls for the private sector to contribute P100 billion.
“The new power plant is also CEDC’s response to President Arroyo’s calls for the expansion of power-generation capacity, particularly in Cebu and the Visayas,” said Jesus Alcordo, CEDC president.
He added the plant will have a generating capacity of 246 megawatts.
CEDC claims that construction of the plant is well on its way, and is some 50-percent complete into the first of three power-generation units.
The unit is scheduled to be energized by the first quarter of 2010, with full commercial operation of the plant expected in the third quarter of 2010—the time that the power situation in Cebu and the Visayas moves from critical to actual shortage.
The new coal plant will be using the latest in clean-coal technology and is being built by FHI of Taiwan. FHI itself has a portfolio of modern, efficient and clean coal-fired power plants in Taiwan, the United States, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The clean-coal plant is envisioned to help solve the worsening power situation in the Visayas in general, and Cebu in particular. The Visayas and Cebu have been facing dwindling power reserves and insufficient peak capacity as early as 2008.
The plant is anticipated to supply the Balamban EnerZone, where Tsuneishi’s shipbuilding plant is being expanded, requiring not only more power but also reliable and quality energy.
Carmen Copper, which is now fully operational in the old Atlas Mining site, will also be a major beneficiary and is projected to create a tremendous multiplier effect as an economic-stimulus project.
Source: Paul Anthony A. Isla Business Mirror
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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