FPM Power Holdings (Singapore) Ltd., an affiliate of Manila Electric Company (Meralco), will be joining the tender being carried out by the Singaporean government for its planned capacity shoring up to meet future energy demand growth.
According to Meralco Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, the target of the company’s subsidiary Meralco Power Gen (MGen) and its affiliate firm-partner First Pacific Company Ltd. would be a capacity build of 600 megawatts (MW) that will be leaning on gas technology.
“We are advised that Singapore is bidding out 600MW each of gas plant somewhere in the island of Singapore,” he noted, adding that the capacity bidding being administered by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore is a forward investment opportunity that they are keen on exploring in that city-state.
Pangilinan emphasized that if their bid would eventually turn out favorable, that will be a valuable addition to the 800MW current capacity of their Pacific Light power facility in Singapore, which is running on liquefied natural gas.
“Our size is only about 800MW and we will certainly take a serious look at participating,” the Meralco chief executive stressed.
For that targeted greenfield power development, Pangilinan indicated that the estimated investment could top $600 million – if reckoned on a rule of thumb of $1.0 million per megawatt installation.
Like the sentiment of most prospective investors in Singapore, the enforced secondary price cap of the Singaporean energy regulator will also be a key policy consideration that the MGen-First Pacific will be weighing up in their bid plan.
Pangilinan is currently the chairman of Meralco PowerGen (MGen), which is the power generation investment arm of the Meralco group; and he is also the managing director of their affiliate-firm First Pacific.
Singapore is currently suffering from "energy crunch" and the tendering process it is undertaking is intended to beef up its power supply buffer, including provision for decent reserves in its electricity system.
The auction is scheduled within this year; and the targeted commercial operations date (COD) of the solicited new electric generating assets will be by year 2028.