Electricity Generating Public Company Limited or EGCO Group disclosed that its San Buenaventura coal-fired power project in Quezon province, the Philippines was granted the prestigious Project Finance International (PFI) “Asia-Pacific Power Deal of the Year” for 2015. Project Finance International is a leading international project finance journal.

Mr. Chanin Chaonirattisai, President of EGCO Group said, “We are very proud of San Buenaventura power project for the recognition. The project is owned by San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL), the joint venture company of EGCO Group and Meralco PowerGen Corporation, in the proportion of 49% and 51%, respectively. Such an award is a proof of EGCO Group’s positive achievements with overseas investment.”

Key success factors of the SBPL project receiving this pretigious award are 1) Debt Financing - the project has sucessfully raised PHP42.15 billion (approximately THB32 billion) debt facility, the largest peso-dominated project financing facility in the Philippines to-date. Additionally, the tenor of the SBPL loan is 15 years which is one of the longest maturity project finance facilities ever utilized by the domestic banking market in the Philippines. 2) Technology - the project is expected to be the first plant in the Philippines to utilize the supercritical boiler technology. 3) Credibility - the project is well supported by all local banks together with very strong sponsors, i.e., EGCO Group and Meralco with solid track records in the power sector both in international and domestic markets. The project will be built by world-class construction consortium formed by Mitsubishi Corporation from Japan and Daelim Industrial from South Korea. 4) Synergy – the project will utilize some facilities of the existing Quezon power plant that will help minimize the overall project cost, and hence provide competitively priced electricity to users in the Philippines. Moreover, the project will help ensure a more stable and robust supply of power in the Luzon that will support the country’s economic growth.

The SBPL coal-fired power project is now under construction at the site adjacent to the existing Quezon power plant at Mauban, Quezon province in the Philippines. The project will have a gross output capacity of 500MW, of which the entire net capacity of 455MW is contracted for sale to the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) under a 20 year power supply agreement. Commercial operation of the facility which is scheduled for mid 2019.