FIRST GEN Corp. said the second unit of its 97-megawatt (MW) Avion power plant has returned to commercial operations using liquid fuel after the completion of repairs Tuesday.
“Unit 2 of the 97-MW Avion Power Plant is now commercially available on liquid fuel operation,” the power company said in a disclosure Wednesday.
It added that recommissioning and testing of the unit using liquid fuel have been successfully completed. The natural gas-powered unit went offline for more than a month due to damage to one of its dual fuel aero-derivative gas turbines, which was discovered after a routine inspection.
The company said Tuesday that restoration work on the turbine had been completed by its manufacturer, General Electric Co.
Recommissioning and testing for gas operations, however, will be conducted once the supply of natural gas from the Malampaya field becomes available after the gas field underwent a 22-day shutdown starting on Oct. 2.
The Avion power plant is owned by First Gen’s subsidiary, Prime Meridian Powergen Corp., and is located within the First Gen Energy Complex in Batangas.
It is one of the five natural gas facilities that source fuel from the Malampaya gas field in Palawan.
First Gen also owns the three other gas facilities receiving supply from Malampaya: the 1,000-MW Santa Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, and the 420-MW San Gabriel plants.
The fifth natural gas facility fed by the deep water-to-gas project is the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas plant operated by KEPCO Ilijan Corp.
First Gen shares on Wednesday declined by 0.34% to finish at P29. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago
