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.