POWER developer Conal Holdings Corp. (CHC) said on Wednesday that its plan to build a $450-million coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province will proceed as planned.

In a statement, Gregorio Gonzales, CHC project manager, said construction of the 200-megawatt (MW) facility will be implemented in two phases. “The first phase will include the construction of the first 100-MW plant and the common facilities for the power station complex,” he said.

The second phase, which represents the second 100-MW capacity, will be started within 18 to 24 months after the start of construction of first phase.

Gonzales said the power plant is expected to go on-stream commercially by late 2012, at the earliest.

Demand for additional power supply in Mindanao is expected to increase over the next three years.

Archimedes Flores, general manager of Aboitiz Energy Solutions, earlier warned that reserve capacity in Mindanao will fall to 7.5 percent or 84 MW short of its 212-MW requirement in 2010.

He added that Mindanao will likely face a power shortage of 174-MW by 2011.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, formerly the National Transmission Corp., said last year that total dependable capacity in Mindanao was only 1,510 MW.

Generating plants are required to keep 13 percent of its capacity for reserve, straining the reliability of power supply in the island as experienced by long and frequent power interruptions during the last several months.