GNPower Mariveles coal plant unit goes on unscheduled shutdown

ABOITIZ Power Corp. said on Wednesday that a unit of its 632-megawatt (MW) pulverized coal-fired power plant in Mariveles, Bataan went on an unexpected shutdown due to a damaged boiler.

“The outage is attributable to damage found in a portion of the boiler of GMEC’s (GNPower Mariveles Energy Center Ltd. Co.) Unit 1,” AboitizPower said in a disclosure to the local bourse.

Restoration works are targeted to be completed by the third quarter, it said.

GMEC is a private limited partnership that handles the development, construction, operation, and ownership of two units of a pulverized coal-fired power plant in Mariveles. Each unit has a capacity of 316 MW.

AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Power Inc.; ACE Mariveles Power Ltd. Co; and Power Partners Ltd. Co. hold partnership interests in GMEC.

AboitizPower said it projects the restoration of the damaged unit to be completed by the third quarter, but the timeline could extend to the end of the year.

“The procurement of the necessary services for restoration works is underway, and, based on AboitizPower’s current assessment, completion of said works and Unit 1’s return to service are targeted by Q3 2021, but may take up to yearend 2021,” AboitizPower said.

The firm said that GMEC’s insurance brokers and adjusters are in the process of filing insurance claims. The firm said that it was also coordinating with regulators and key stakeholders.

Unit 1 of GMEC’s coal plant delivers a net sellable capacity of 247 MW, which is around 7% of AboitizPower’s total attributable net sellable capacity of 3,494 MW. GMEC makes up 13% of the total installed capacity under the AboitizPower’s market control of 3,850 MW.

AboitizPower has ownership interests in nine distribution utilities, which supply power to franchise areas covering a total of 18 cities and municipalities nationwide.

AboitizPower shares on Wednesday shed 1.57% or 0.40 centavos to finish at P25 apiece. —