FDC Misamis plant links to Mindanao grid
GOTIANUN-LED Filinvest Development Corporation ( FDC) Utilities, Inc. and its subsidiary FDC Misamis Power Corporation (FDC Misamis) announced on Thursday that the second unit of FDC Misamis’ 405-megawatt (3 x 135 MW) power plant has come online last August 5.
The flagship project was successfully synchronized to the Mindanao grid in August, just weeks after the first unit went online last July 11, to help ensure the supply of reliable and competitively priced power for Mindanao.
The third unit is scheduled for synchronization by the first half of September.
This is the first power plant to be commissioned under the Duterte administration, FDC Misamis noted.
“To date, FDC Misamis has a generating capacity of 270 MW and is currently supplying over 200 MW to the Mindanao grid. So far, the commissioning test has been running smoothly and we expect to attain the full capacity of 405 MW by this month,” FDC Utilities, Inc. president and chief operating officer Mario Pangilinan said.
Located at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, the power plant is a multi-billion peso investment that uses the latest in clean coal technology called the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler technology.
Considered as the cleanest process to burning coal, the technology is also known for having higher steam generator efficiency, thus lowering carbon emissions.
“The operation of the FDC Misamis power project will greatly boost the supply security in the Mindanao region. And this is not only because of its large capacity but also due to its strategic connection to the grid. With this development, our system will be more reliable and the quality of service will be higher,” said Ambrocio Rosales, OIC head of the Mindanao System Operations Department of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Pangilinan added, “Mindanao has been suffering from perennial power crisis for decades given its high dependence on hydro power compounded by the increasing frequency of the El Niño phenomenon. Our project will finally put an end to this recurring power crisis that has plagued the region and hopefully drive the much needed economic development in Mindanao.”
Upon commissioning of its third unit, FDC Misamis will be supplying a total of about 500 MW with the inclusion of its 100 MW Apo Geothermal IPPA (independent power producer administration) contract.
Long-term contractual commitments hve been secured for more than 85 percent of the project’s net capacity with various distribution utilities and large industrial customers in Mindanao.
“The entire Filinvest group is committed to Mindanao’s development. This is the biggest investment we have made among the numerous ventures we have undertaken in the region,” said Jonathan Gotianun, chairman of Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC).
FDC also has significant investments in real estate, banking and sugar in Mindanao.
FDC, the holding company of the Filinvest Group, is one of the Philippines’ leading conglomerates, with interests in property development, banking and financial services, hotel and resort management, power generation and the sugar industry. As of June 30, 2016, FDC had assets valued at P448.56 billion with stockholders’ equity at P100.54 billion.