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IN an effort to stave off a looming power crunch in the Visayas, a
consortium of four companies began construction of a coal-fired
power plant in Cebu.
The consortium, composed of the Metrobank
group’s Global Business Power Corp.; Taiwan-based Formosa Heavy
Industries Corp.; and local listed firms Aboitiz Power Corp. and
Vivant Power Corp., last week inaugurated the 264 megawatt coal
facility in Toledo City, Cebu.
“We recognize the potential of [the] province
and these investments are our contribution to the continued
development of Cebu in particular, and to the country’s power and
tourism industries in general,” George S.K. Ty, Metrobank group
chairman, said.
The four companies will pour in $500 million for
the project, which will use clean-coal technology. The facility is
scheduled to be completed by the first quarter of 2010.
The power plant is expected to improve Cebu’s
projected power supply in the coming years. The island currently has
a total power demand of 460 megawatts, a nine percent increase from
the 2007 level.
Cebu imports power from the geothermal power
plant in Leyte through submarine transmission cable. Thus any
disruption will cause a power shortage causing brownouts in the
island-province.
Jesus Alcordo, Global Power president, said that
the proposed facility will also supply power to the Negros and Panay
islands.
Based on government projections, the
Cebu-Negros-Panay grid would need additional plants by 2009 because
of growing demand.
Formosa, which will act as engineering,
procurement and construction contractor and technical partner for
the power plant, has acquired the technology of an advanced
fluidized bed boiler that will address the need for environment
protection.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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