First Gen Corp., the largest Philippine operator of gas-fired power plants, is looking for partners for three plants and a liquefied natural-gas (LNG) terminal it plans to build in the next five years at a cost of $2.7 billion.
By the end of the year, Manila-based First Gen wants to line up partners to help finance and operate the projects, President Francis Giles B. Puno said in an interview. The company plans to keep the majority control of the assets, he said.
First Gen is in talks with potential partners from Japan, Europe and the Philippines, Puno added. He declined to name any of the companies, citing confidentiality agreements. For the $1.2-billion LNG terminal, First Gen wants a partner that can operate and maintain the facility, he said.
The plan is to have the terminal up and running by 2021, before the nation’s Malampaya gas field runs dry in 2024. The company, which owns two of the three plants now running on Malampaya gas, plans to add three more worth $1.5 billion by 2021.
“By making sure that we have good, supportive partners, we can accelerate the development of additional facilities,” Puno said. “The demand is there. We have the ability to supply, but the supply is dependent on capital expenditures.”
The Southeast Asian nation’s demand for electricity surged, as its economy expanded. Consumption rose 50 percent to 72,922 gigawatt-hours in the 10 years to 2012, three times as much as the 16-percent growth in generating capacity over the same period, according to latest government data.
The 414-megawatt (MW) San Gabriel plant—the first of three gas-fired generators First Gen wants to add—is already funded and will be operational next year. This will be followed by two plants with total capacity of 800 MW, which will be completed in 2018 and 2021, respectively, Puno said.
First Gen’s existing two gas-fired power plants have 1,500 MW in combined capacity. Avion, a 97-MW plant that will run on Malampaya gas, will start operating in August.
With the additional natural gas-fired plants, the planned liquefied natural-gas (LNG) terminal may eventually be expanded, Puno said. First Gen is in talks with suppliers who source LNG from Australia, the Middle East and North
America, he said. Again, he declined to name any of the party as the talks are private. First Gen plans to also double its generating capacity in the southern island of Mindanao in the next five years by adding 100 MW of hydroelectric capacity, Puno said.