LUCENA City -- Former Quezon Gov. Eduardo Rodriguez renews his appeal to the national government to finally allow the operation of the Liquefied Natural Gas hub terminal and power plant facilities in Pagbilao town that would be a big help to the country’s blooming power crisis affecting its economy.
Rodriguez made his appeal during the preliminary assembly of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) held at Queen Margarette Hotel in Lucena City on Saturday attended by hundreds of participants coming from different towns and this city. Rodriguez, also a former Local Government assistant secretary, has been elected regional chairman of PFP in Calabarzon region along with former Laguna Gov. E.R. Ejercito as regional president. PFP’s accreditation as a national political party has already been approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Rodriguez said it is indeed ironic that while the country is now suffering from energy problem a power source being developed by Energy World Corporation (ECW) is being deprived of its right to take off and supply a cheaper and cleaner electricity. He disclosed that funding requirements with local banks and transmission arrangement with various government agencies has been the main cause of delay in the formal operation of the plant facilities of the power plant project. Rodriguez lamented that the power station is still unable to access the existing transmission line of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as this would enable the near term connection of the 400MW power plant equipment already on site and would represent further committed capacity to the Luzon grid. EWC is developing the first LNG Hub Terminal with full containment and onshore LNG tanks with pumpable capacity of 130,000 cubic meters of LNG each. The facility also consists of a dedicated jetty and marine infrastructure for the loading and unloading of LNG ships as well as regasification, control center and workshops and other ancillary facilities. Adjacent to the Hub Terminal facility, EWC is also constructing the first LNG Fired Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Station with a capacity of 650 megawatts aimed at providing clean electricity which will be sold through Whole Electricity Spot Market (WESM) to the Luzon Grid in line with the Department of Energy’s vision for a clean energy in the future. In his speech during the PFP assembly, Rodriguez said the country is facing so much serious problems and therefore “we in PFP should help President Rodrigo Duterte to combat them by providing solutions”. He said once the LNG-fired power plant and the hub terminal become operational, the gas it produces can also be converted from LNG to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) that can be used by the transport sector.
EWC Price at posting:
18.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
