SMC: Ilijan gas plant to reopen next month

The reopening and reintegration of the 1,200 megawatt (MW) Ilijan natural gas plant to the national grid will happen next month.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC), through its power arm SMC Global Power holdings Corp. (SMGP), had originally targeted the reopening on May 26.

Sources said this was moved to a few days on June 2 to iron out minor details.

When asked if June 2 is the new opening date, SMC President Ramon Ang affirmed in a text message. “Yes,” Ang replied.

Sources also said officials from the Department of energy (DOE) are expected to visit the gas plant.

SMC announced last month that it took delivery of the country’s firstever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo that will fuel its Ilijan power plant.

Ang noted the significant progress made in the ongoing construction of the country’s first LNG import terminal by leading global LNG terminals and downstream infrastructure firm Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific International holdings (AG&P).

“With the reintegration of the Ilijan power plant into the power grid system, the country will be better assured of energy supply security these coming summer months and beyond,” said Ang.

“hopefully, with all available power facilities operating—with no plants breaking down or going on unscheduled shutdown—we will have more than enough capacity for the rest of the year, and consumers will not have to experience brownouts or supply rotations.” Ang said its LNG shipment—137,000 billion cubic meters in all—had been waiting in a f loating storage unit (FSU) in Subic Bay pending completion of the full-scale LNG terminal, particularly its jetty facilities.

Following the jetty facilities’ recent completion, the FSU finally berthed and connected to the LNG terminal, marking the start of commissioning of the facility.

This involved the cooling down of the cryogenic lines of the facility, in preparation for the delivery of processed natural gas—which in turn will serve as fuel to the Ilijan plant.

The new terminal is the first of several that may be opened in the Philippines starting this year, as the country ramps up the importation of LNG as part of government’s efforts to ensure supply security, and transition to cleaner sources of power.