The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) on Tuesday said STX Marine Service Co. Ltd. of South Korea is currently assessing the extent of repair that needs to be done on Unit 1 of the Malaya thermal power plant.
“We have completed the uncoupling and are now in the process of evaluating the extent of the damage and rehab works,” PSALM President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said in a text message when sought for an update.
The unit was last inspected on Wednesday last week, prior to the January 5 inspection in which one of the four couplings was removed.
Still, the state firm is hopeful that the 90-day work schedule to overhaul Malaya 1 would be met in time for the anticipated power shortage in summer of 2015.
Once Malaya 1 is rehabilitated, the entire Malaya facility can run at its full capacity of 650 megawatts (MW).
“We are still looking at finishing the work on March 3, 2015, or 90 days after, per contract stipulation,” Ledesma added. Under the terms of reference, STX Marine work must be completed within 90 days from issuance of the Notice to Proceed.
The government wants the rehabilitation of the Malaya Unit 1 done before summer of next year to make it available in time for the 2015 Malampaya shutdown.
The Malampaya facility will go offline from March 15 to April 14, 2015, to commence Phase 3 of the Malampaya project involving the installation of a platform aimed at maintaining the fuel supply to power plants providing half of Luzon’s power needs.
The Malaya power facility consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler. It was rehabilitated in 1995 by the Korea Electric Power Corp. under a 15-year rehabilitate-operate-manage-maintain agreement.
STX Marine also recently bagged a one-year contract to operate and maintain the two units of the Malaya thermal power plant.
STX is engaged in the design, construction, supervision and repair of system or equipment related to energy. The company is also a provider of maritime solutions, and among its services are ship management, marine transportation and brokerage, and ship design, construction, leasing and repair.