First Gen to upgrade, expand Casecnan plant

PANTABANGAN, Nueva Ecija — Lopez-led First Gen Corp. is expanding and upgrading the Casecnan hydroelectric power plant after taking over the facility last month.

First Gen senior vice president and head of hydro group Dennis Gonzales said expansion plans are “in the works.”

“Give us a year, because we’ll polish the studies first. Once the studies are okay, then we’ll probably disclose it to the public,” Gonzales said.

The energy firm is also planning to upgrade the control center of Casecnan plant, particularly its operating system, in one to two years.

He added that there is a “window time” to upgrade facilities in the plant, which is during the dry season from February to April.

“Normally, this is the time we want to do all those upgrades. This is the time that we can actually shut down at least one unit at a time so we can do all those upgrades,” Gonzales said.

One unit from the power plant has a generation capacity of 82.5 megawatts (MW).

According to Gonzales, further plans for upgrade are not necessary as they acquired the plant in good condition.

“Its initial build is good, including the maintenance. So we don’t see the need to refurbish the major components of Casecnan,” Gonzales said. State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) turned over ownership of the 165-megawatt Casecnan plant to First Gen in February.

The turnover was finalized after the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) cleared the acquisition of First Gen’s subsidiary Fresh River Lakes Corp. of the Casecnan power plant.

The PCC gave the go-signal to Fresh River to take over Casecnan “seeing that the transaction would not result in substantial lessening of competition in the relevant markets.”

Gonzales told a press conference that the company aims to reach a total generation capacity of about 400 MW by 2028 through the construction of the Aya Pump storage project.

Aya is expected to provide around 100 to 120 MW, on top of the existing 300 MW from the firm’s various plants.

Other than the 165-MW Casecnan plant, First Gen’s other plants include the 132MW Pantabangan and the 12.8MW Masiway power plant.

Gonzales said the firm is still waiting for the approval of the NIA within the year before beginning construction.

“We can start construction within three years, then that 100 to 120-MW plant will be out to run,” Gonzales said.

The Aya project will be located on the downstream area of the Pantabangan-Masiway Hydroelectric power plant.