THE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said on Friday that the proposed fuel shift of Unit 1 of the Ilijan power plant from biodiesel to pure diesel is not an assurance that it can run at its full capacity, contrary to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) earlier pronouncement.
The Ilijan combined-cycle power plant is composed of two units with a capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) each. Unit 2 is scheduled to undergo a maintenance outage during the very same time the Malampaya natural-gas facility also goes offline from March 15 to April 14, 2015.
Ilijan is among the three power plants fueled by the Malampaya natural-gas facility. The other two are the1,000-MW Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo power plants.
The Santa Rita and San Lorenzo power plants of the Lopez group can run on expensive liquid fuel whenever Malampaya is offline. The Ilijan power plant, meanwhile, can run on biodiesel.
The problem, however, is when Ilijan runs on biodiesel its capacity will be reduced to 420 MW from 600 MW per unit, DOE Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said.
This is because, under the Biofuels Act, a 2-percent biodiesel (diesel with coco methyl ester) blend is required for all retail pumps and power plants running on diesel. Petilla explained that, when this happens, the Ilijan power plant’s efficiency level will be reduced and, as such, its capacity won’t be maximized. Petilla proposed that Ilijan Unit 1 run on pure diesel.
On Friday PSALM said the fuel shift to diesel will not provide assurance that the load of the plant’s Unit 1 would increase from 420 MW to 600 MW whenever the natural- gas supply from the Malampaya is not available, said the state firm’s President and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. “In any case, this shift cannot be completed in time for the Malampaya shutdown from March 15 to April 14, 2015,” he added.
“The change in the Ilijan power plant’s alternative fuel from biodiesel to pure diesel has been proposed to augment the power supply during the Malampaya shutdown in 2015, with an expectation that this will ensure operation of Ilijan’s Block 1 at its full 600-MW capacity. However, this shift cannot guarantee the increase in capacity, given that the last performance test of the plant using liquid fuel was conducted 13 years ago, and the effect of plant degradation and changes in ambient temperature….,” Ledesma explained.
Moreover, Ledesma pointed out that, should the shift to pure diesel proceed, the following activities would require around six months to complete, which will extend beyond March 2015: liquid operation of Ilijan for three days to consume the current biodiesel inventory; cleaning of the fuel tanks to be undertaken by plant operator Kepco Ilijan Corp. (Keilco); PSALM’s procurement of contractor for removal of sludge, actual removal and sale; preparation of the gas turbines for pure diesel operation; and PSALM’s procurement of 60 million liters of pure diesel.
There is also a need to conduct a pure diesel tuning, stability operation and performance test, which will take at least eight days. Hence, PSALM recommends the continued use of biodiesel for Ilijan to ensure continuous power supply during the 2015 Malampaya shutdown,” Ledesma added.
Ilijan’s usable liquid-fuel storage of about 30 million liters is good for five days at 1,200 MW, and about thirteen days at 420 MW. Based on the limitation of the jetty and fuel-storage facility, PSALM’s simulation results show that, beginning with full storage tanks inventory and fuel deliveries through barges during operation, the plant can sustain 25 days liquid operation of one unit. The plant will need to be shut down for five days to be able to clean combustor fuel nozzle and fuel oil system in preparation for natural-gas firing operation.
The Ilijan plant in Batangas, is under a Build-Operate-Transfer contract with Keilco. Through PSALM, the government is responsible for the plant’s fuel supply based on the Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA) with Keilco. Under the ECA, Keilco shall make its best effort to synchronize Ilijan’s maintenance with the Malampaya shutdown.