Malampaya Shallow Water Platform. Handout photo
MANILA — The Malampaya natural gas facility will undergo a scheduled maintenance shutdown from Feb. 4 to 18 in preparation for summer, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
While there won't be any power interruption or alerts over the power grid during the 15-day period, there are likely cost implications in the electric bill of consumers in Luzon as several power plants running on natural gas from Malampaya will have to use more expensive liquid condensates and other fuels to produce power, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said.
But Lotilla said what is important is that there is enough supply of power in the grid to ensure there is no power interruption.
Meanwhile, Meralco said it has started the competitive selection process (CSP) for 480 megawatts of supply meant to address the increase in demand starting next year due to the ongoing Malampaya gas supply restriction.
The DOE approved the terms of reference (TOR) for the 2 CSPs involving Meralco's 300-MW peaking requirement from Feb. 26, 2023 to July 25, 2023, and the 180-MW baseload supply from Feb. 26, 2023 to Feb. 25, 204, Meralco said.
It said the approval of the TOR would help the power distributor " ensure the availability of reliable, stable, and least cost-supply for its 7.6 million customers, especially in the 2023 summer months."
Submission of Expression of Interest for either contract is open until Jan. 5, 2023, it said. Bid submission deadline for the 180-MW and the 300-MW contract capacity is on Feb.1 and Feb. 2, 2023, respectively, Meralco said.
— With a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News
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