Ramos switches 100-MW power plant

Ramos switches 100-MW power plant

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos on Saturday switched on a
100-megawatt (MW) power plant on Bataan province northwest of
Manila built by a consortium of Japanese and Swedish firms, the
presidential palace announced.

The additional power increased the entire facility's output to
300 MW since the construction of three gas turbines with a
generating capacity of 200 MW had been completed last year.

A second complex totaling another 300 MW is to be completed
next year. These will be connected to the Luzon grid through
overhead transmission lines.

The 5.2 billion-peso (US$203.92 million) facility that runs on
combined steam and gas power was constructed by the Swedish firm
Asea Brown Boveri and Kawasaki Corp. and Marubeni Corp. of Japan,
the palace said.

It is located on a 33-hectare (81.51-acre) site in Limay town
across Manila Bay and is adjacent to an oil refinery belonging to
local giant Petron Corp., which will supply its fuel
requirements.

Fuel storage tanks have been linked to the refinery's fuel
delivery system through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) pipeline.

The facility is also near the site of a proposed petrochemical
park and a mothballed nuclear power plant which Manila plans to
transform into a 1,800-MW conventional generator.

Manila, which has emerged from an energy crisis in the past
two years, is aiming for fuel efficiency to meet the demands of
its economic recovery.