Calaca power station

This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy. See here for help on adding material to CoalSwarm.

This article is part of the CoalSwarm coverage of the The Philippines and coal
Sub-articles:
The Philippines and coal Proposed coal plants in the Philippines Existing plants in the Philippines
Related articles:
Global use and production of coal International Information on Coal World Bank and coal

Calaca power station is a 900-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Batangas, the Philippines. A proposed expansion would increase the plant's capacity by an additional 700 MW.

Location

The map below shows the location of the plant, in San Rafael Barangay, Calaca District, Batangas Province.

Loading map...

{"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":15,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"markercluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","enablefullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":13.9326276,"lon":120.7896888,"icon":""}]}

Background

The original Calaca power station is a 600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned by DMCI Holdings in Calaca, the Philippines. Units 1 and 2 of the plant, each 300 MW, were commissioned in 1984 and 1995 respectively. DMCI bought the plant from the Philippine government in July 2009 for $361 million.

In May 2016, SEM-Calaca began a restoration project on the original two 300-MW units of Calaca. The two units had degraded since construction, and had an output of only 500 MW. The goal of the restoration was to bring them back up to 600 MW.

Expansion

DMCI Power Corp. plans to expand the power station in three phases. Expansion Phase I, consisting of two 150-MW units, was completed in 2015. Expansion Phase II, still under development, was initially planned as two additional 150-MW units; it was later changed to a single 350-MW unit, then to two single-unit 350-MW additional phases.

Phase I

In February 2012, DMCI's Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. signed an P11.5-billion loan agreement with three local banks to finance Phase I of the expansion. Construction on Phase I began in May 2012, with completion originally scheduled for November 2014 for Unit 3, and February 2015 for Unit 4. CNEEC is the primary construction contractor on Phase I. In October 2014, DMCI announced that the completion of Unit 3 would be delayed for six months. In March 2015, Consunji announced that Unit 3 would be brought online in April 2015, and Unit 4 in June 2015.

At least 600 Chinese workers were found to be working illegally at the Phase I construction site in August 2014, after a raid by a government joint task force.

The Phase I units went online in March and June 2015.

Phases II & III

Two additional 350-MW coal-fired units are being planned, as Phases II and III. The two units would be built by St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., a Semirara subsidiary (which is, in turn, a DMCI subsidiary). The two additional phases would cost $1.4 billion.

As of August 2013, financing discussions for Expansion Phase II were ongoing. The target completion date for Phase II is 2016-17. In May 2014, DMCI announced that Phase II would be switched from two 150-MW units to a single 350-MW unit. The expansion is slated to cost P20 billion ($450 million), with a 70-30% loan-equity split. Later in 2014, an additional 350-MW Phase III was announced, with no planned completion date.

In July 2016 DMCI Holdings entered a 50-50 joint venture with Manila Electric to build the 700 MW phases II and III (units 5-6) of the expansion. In November 2016, the Japanese Marubeni Corporation took a 20% equity stake in the project; DMCI and Manila Electric would each take 40%.

As of November 2016, the consortium was in talks with U.S. firm Black & Veatch to serve as construction contractor. The project was also still waiting for permits from the Energy Regulatory Commission. In June 2017, St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. announced that it plans to begin construction of Phases II and III in 2018. In September 2018 the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) listed a target date of Q1 2019 for beginning construction, and commissioning date of 2023. In March 2019 the Philippine Department of Energy listed Units 5 and 6 as entering construction in the second half of 2019.

In May 2019 the Supreme Court of the Philippines invalidated the plant's Power Supply Agreements (PSA's) because they had not gone through a competitive selection process (CSP), delaying development of the Calaca Phase II. In all seven plants owned by Meralco or contracting with Meralco had their PSA's invalidated by the ruling. The DOE gave the completion date for the 2 x 350 MW expansion as 2025 in its August 2019 list of initiated power projects in Luzon.

Opposition

In January 2017 a protest organized by SAMBAT (Samahan ng mga Magbubukid ng Batangas) called on the DENR to shut down the Calaca coal-fire plant. "The Batangueños are living through the irreparable damages caused by the power plant for more than three decades now. Their houses were demolished and families dislocated; residents suffer from different illnesses such as lower respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, hypertension and diarrhea; damaged livelihood such as decreased fish catch while many others who depended on agriculture resorted to seasonal and odd jobs like construction worker, household helper, and farm worker," said SAMBAT's chairperson Agaton Bautista.

Mine disaster

An accident in July 2015 at the Semirara coal mine operations killed nine workers.

Project Details for Expansion Phases I-III, Units 3-6

• Sponsor: SEM-Calaca Power Corp
• Parent company:
  • Units 3 & 4: DMCI Holdings Inc.
  • Units 5 & 6: DMCI Holdings (40%), Manila Electric (40%), and Marubeni Corporation (20%)
• Location: San Rafael Barangay, Calaca District, Batangas Province, Philippines
• Coordinates: 13.93263, 120.78969 (exact)
• Status: Units 3-4: Operating; Units 5-6: Pre-permit development
• Gross capacity: 1,000 MW (Units 3 & 4: 150 MW; Units 5 & 6: 350 MW)
• Type: Subcritical
• In service: Unit 3-4: 2015; Units 5-6: 2025
• Coal type: Subbituminous
• Coal source: Semirara coal mine
• Source of financing: Phase I: Henry Sy-owned Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala Group and China Banking Corp., also owned by the Sy Group. BDO Capital and Investments Corp.

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Philippines and coal

External resources

• "Philippines: Privatization and Refurbishment of the Calaca Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant Project," Environmental Assessment Report, prepared by Emerald Energy Corporation for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), April 2008