Semirara spends P2.8B to rehabilitate 2 plants
SEMIRARA Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) said on Monday it had spent P2.8 billion in rehabilitating and extending the life of two power plants under power generation subsidiary SemCalaca Power Corp.
The Consunji-led company told the stock exchange another P2.2 billion worth of contracts was also recently awarded to various local and foreign suppliers under three-year program.
“Units 1 and 2 have been running for 33 years and 21 years, respectively. We are upgrading the equipment to get the reliability, performance and efficiency needed to support our continuing commercial requirements,” said SMPC President and Chief Operating Officer Victor A. Consunji.
The rehabilitation and life extension program, which ends in 2019, has a budget of about P8 billion. It aims to boost the generation capacity of the two plants to 600 megawatts (MW) and extend their economic life by about 20 to 25 years.
SMPC said initial equipment upgrades such as boiler modifications, which started in late 2016, have raised the generation capacity of the first unit to 270 MW from 220 MW.
The second unit is set for boiler refurbishing and electric precipitator expansion from December 2017 to March 2018. The expansion, which involves a filtration device that can remove 99% of hazardous air pollutants, uses static electricity to filter soot and ash from exhaust fumes before exiting smokestacks, the company said.