‘P8-B plants in Toledo, Panay Is.’

About two 82 MW coal plants worth P8 billion each are being planned for Toledo City and Panay Island within a few years.

Global Business Power Corp president Arthur N. Aguilar said the firm planned to retire their 30-year-old Toledo power plant and replace it with a new 82 MW coal plant.

Another 82 MW coal plant will be built for the Panay Energy Development Corp.

“Toledo Power Plant has been running for 30 years with a capacity of 60MW. We want to have it retire and build a new plant with a higher capacity,” Aguilar told Cebu Daily News.

The 60 MW plant has been servicing Carmen Copper Inc. and Cebu III Electric Cooperative (CEBECO 3).

Aguilar said Global Power had two units operating for PEDC and was talking with major costumers in Panay before building an additional plant.

With the two plants, Aguilar said GBPC was close to hitting their 30 percent limit in the Visayas under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) which means their expansion options are limited.

But Cebu still has ample power capacity for the next two years, Aguilar said.

“Cebu’s growth in demand is about 10 percent which is double the national growth and this is a manufacturing or commercial driven growth,” he said.

GBPC has an existing partnership with Aboitiz Power Corp and operates three 82MW power plants in Toledo through its Cebu Energy Development Corp.

The plants provide 105 MW or about a quarter of the total energy requirements of the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco). Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap