Lopez-led First Gen Corporation will be joining the fresh round of bidding that power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will be undertake to fill the capacity void on its additional 2024 supply following the retreat of its targeted supplier. First Gen President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno noted that Meralco is bidding out all its 2024 new capacities at a time when our contracts are expiring. "Now, what obviously puts us in a much better position is the fact that when these contracts expire, we expect that the market will need them – whether that’s Meralco that will extend that contract or consumers themselves,” Puno said. Around March this year, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. of the San Miguel group announced that it was opting out from its power supply agreements (PSAs) with Meralco - covering 1,800 megawatts of aggregate capacity – due to the lapse of the "longstop date" provision under the contracts as to when regulatory approvals would have been secured. With that supply being cut off, Meralco will have to undertake a competitive selection process (CSP) or auction for new PSAs upon the approval of the Department of Energy. “Ironically, that’s good news for us because more and more, what we’re experiencing is a growing consumption of electricity. Electricity consumption is not going down, it’s going up and what that means is that: there’s a need for new capacity. Certainly, Meralco will have to find where they will be buying the power from,” Puno stressed. Of the capacities impeded by contractual snag, 1,200MW would account for gas supply that will be due for delivery by December 2024; and that could be ideally filled in by the gas plants of First Gen if the company would win in the bid process. Puno indicated that the prospects raising optimism for their company lean on the fact that their gas plants are already commercially operating; and capital cost recoveries had been more or less accomplished, thus, that gives First Gen the leverage to offer cost-competitive price once call for tenders are slated. “There’s no other source; unless those power plants are built -- and they’re not likely to be completed by that time,” the First Gen executive opined. He similarly cited growing demand as part of their comfort level in finding market for their existing gas-fueled electricity generation; adding it to the fact that gas stands as the "ideal match" for the power system’s need for flexible plant technologies that could address the on-and-off availability of variable renewable energy (VRE) capacities, primarily solar and wind. “We’re quite confident that there will be a market for the expiring contracts of First Gen – most specifically the gas contracts,” Puno emphasized. On fuel sourcing for their gas-fed power plants, he conveyed that they are looking at three-pronged strategy; including purchase of residual production from the Malampaya gas field; liquified natural gas (LNG) and then liquid fuels. “One of the things we’re looking at is: if there’s no LNG; what we’re doing is: having to operate on whatever residual Malampaya is available and then liquid fuel combination,” Puno expounded. Looking to the future, he stated “more and more, what we’re seeing is that: it will probably be less and less Malampaya; then more and more liquid fuels is rather costly, so the LNG is there to temper the cost of fuel.”