Philippine connection issues continue, page-5

It appears that the recent publicity re: power plant draw down of funds has had its desired effect. See below the 11 August, 2016 article:

THE MANILA TIMES

EWC cites DOE assistance on power delivery
August 11, 2016 10:11 pm
by VOLTAIRE PALAÑA

AUSTRALIAN power firm Energy World International (EWI), the parent company of Energy World Corp. (EWC), lauded Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi for his prompt assistance to resolve the company’s power delivery from its 650 megawatt (MW) natural gas power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon.
Eduardo Rodriguez, country manager for the Philippines of Energy World International and former Quezon Province governor, said Cusi mobilized a team from the DOE to address the transmission problem.
Rodriguez said EWC’s power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon fits the government’s thrust of clean energy promotion as it will utilize natural gas.

“EWC would like to thank Secretary Cusi for his commitment to help us complete this project. On our part, we are committed to fast-track other aspects of project development so that we are able to deliver power at the soonest possible time,” the EWC official said.

Rodriguez said that as an investor, EWC has accepted the call of the government to build power generation facilities that can support the Philippines’ long-term power requirements.

“Our project assures that LNG (liquefied natural gas) can be made available even after natural gas from the Malampaya project is depleted less than a decade from today,” he said.

However, EWC’s power project recently hit a snag due to transmission issues. Rodriguez said that while the project has made significant progress and is almost near completion, the timetable for the completion of the project depends on EWC’s ability to draw down funds from its lenders.

EWC’s lenders include the Development Bank of the Philippines and Asia United Bank Corp.
“The main issue currently preventing the drawdown of funds with EWC’s lenders remains clarification regarding EWC’s transmission arrangements. EWC’s lenders require clarification regarding a right of way owned by PSALM (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.) and certain clarifications from NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines),” Rodriguez said.

Rodriquez said EWC needs a transmission line to deliver power from the power facility once completed and is working with PSALM, NGCP and TeaM Energy Philippines, which uses an existing line for its power plant.

EWC’s power plant is located beside TeaM Energy’s existing Pagbilao coal-fired power plant, which is also undertaking an expansion.

EWC hopes to utilize the existing transmission facility of TeaM Energy to connect to the Luzon grid, which would be faster instead of building a new connection facility.

“We welcome the DOE’s assistance to expedite the export of power from EWC’s plant and thus to alleviate the concerns of EWC’s lenders to enable it to draw down funds and move forward to the commissioning of its project,” he said.