Therma Visayas Energy Project

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Therma Visayas Energy Project is an operating power station of at least 340-megawatts (MW) in Bato, Toledo City, Cebu, Central Visayas, Philippines with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Therma Visayas Energy Project	Bato, Toledo City, Cebu, Central Visayas, Philippines	10.349721, 123.60356 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

Loading map...

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 10.349721, 123.60356

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year
Unit 1	operating	coal: subbituminous	170	CFB	2019
Unit 2	operating	coal: subbituminous	170	CFB	2019
Unit 3	pre-permit	coal: unknown	169	unknown	2027 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Therma Visayas Inc [100%]	Aboitiz Power Corp [80.0%]; Vivant Corp [20.0%]
Unit 2	Therma Visayas Inc [100%]	Aboitiz Power Corp [80.0%]; Vivant Corp [20.0%]
Unit 3	Therma Visayas Inc [100%]	Aboitiz Power Corp [80.0%]; Vivant Corp [20.0%]

Background

The 340-MW two-unit coal-fired Therma Visayas Energy Project project is a joint venture between Aboitiz Power and Vivant Corp. Total project costs are P41 billion, or $925 million. The project was initially expected to be completed in Q3 2017.

In June 2014, Aboitiz signed engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts with Hyundai Engineering & Construction, as well as with local company Galing Power Energy. Site development work was scheduled to begin in November 2014. Vivant Integrated Generation Corporation, a subsidiary of the Vivant Corporation, bought a 20% stake in the plant in August 2014.

As of September 2014, Aboitiz was still working on acquiring 2% of the land for the project site.

In April 2015, Aboitiz announced that it has started construction of the project, with completion scheduled for early 2018.

As of January 2017, construction was on track, with commercial operations expected in early 2018. In January 2018 Aboitiz announced that construction was 90% complete and that the plant would be commissioned in the first half of 2018.

Unit 1 was commissioned in April 2019, and Aboitiz expected Unit 2 to be commissioned in May 2019. In July 2019 the Department of Energy (DOE) gave a target commissioning date of August 2019 for Unit 2. Unit 2 was operating as of October 2019.

The plant supplies power for "Visayan Electric and its RES Affiliates – AESI, AdventEnergy, and Prism Energy, Inc.(Prism Energy)."

Possible expansion (Unit 3)

According to a 2023 AboitizPower report, the company was considering installing an "LNG-to-power project" as an "alternative to a third unit of Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI)," although elsewhere mention of a third unit at Therma Visayas was not found. In August 2023, it was reported that Aboitiz Power was indeed studying the possibility of a 150 MW expansion to the power station. The company's CEO reportedly said that the expansion would be excluded from the Department of Energy's coal ban because it had an existing environmental compliance certificate. Aboitiz was deciding between the coal plant expansion or a 150 MW unit fueled by liquefied natural gas.

Despite the company's continued deliberation of developing the additional coal-fired unit, as of November 2023 the unit did not appear on the DOE lists of initiated power projects. Previously, coal power projects had been exempt from the Philippines' coal moratorium based on their status as "indicative" projects in DOE documents.

In January 2024, the DOE announced that the Therma Visayas expansion was exempt from the 2020 coal moratorium. The Therma Visayas expansion unit was subsequently included in the DOE's January 2024 list of private sector initiated indicative power projects, published in April 2024. Reporting in February 2024 implied that the expansion unit had already been granted its environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and other permits prior to the 2020 coal moratorium, but documentation of the ECC did not appear to be publicly available. According to the Malaya Business Insight, Aboitiz had been assessing the possibilities of building a liquid natural gas or solar plant to increase capacity in the area, but had since "identified coal fuel as the cheapest to build for another 150 MW in the area as bulk of the expenses will only be for the boiler and steam turbine generator and another coal dome."

In April 2024, reporting indicated that the project proponent would soon award an EPC contract for the implementation of Unit 3. Reporting in mid-2024 stated that the target completion of Unit 3 was still dependent on the approval and release of the project's ECC and system impact study, indicating that the unit had not yet secured all necessary environmental permits. As of June 2024, the expansion project remained on the DOE's list of indicative power projects with a target completion date of June 2027.

In September 2024, the DOE's list of indicative power projects in Visayas delayed the targeted commercial operation date of the Therma Visayas Energy Project expansion from June 2027 to September 2027.

Environmental impact and opposition

In October 2019 residents of three nearby barangays complained about the stench from a leaking coal conveyer at the plant. The plant was ordered to install an online emissions data transmission system by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the Toledo City Government.

In April 2022, residents of Barangay Bato in Toledo City filed a complaint against Therma Visayas Inc. to the Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas. The complaint centered around failure to address alleged pollution issues from the power station, and it called for the company's Environmental Compliance Certificate to be revoked. One resident said: "Every morning when I wake up, my throat itches, there is rasping like fine sand. My skin also itches, there is fine dust when I wipe it with a rag every morning...you can see the black dust". Others reported excessive noise pollution and vibrations from the plant at all hours of the day.

In 2022, the plant adopted and donated a "Continous (sic) Ambient Air Monitoring System" to the local barangay Cabitoonan.

In February 2024, the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice called on the Department of Energy to rescind its decision to exclude the proposed expansion of the plant from the coal moratorium.

According to reporting from August 2024, the Power for the People Coalition (P4P Coalition) filed a case with the Philippines Ombudsman against the Department of Energy Secretary over the approval of Unit 3 at Therma Visayas. The complaint alleged that the Secretary approved the expansion of the plant in violation of the moratorium on new coal plants instituted in December 2020.

Financing

Units 1-2: US$703 million in debt financing for the project was secured in July 2015. The eight institutions providing loans are BDO Unibank, China Banking Corporation, Land Bank of the Philippines, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Asia United Bank, SB Capital Investment, Development Bank of the Philippines and Maybank. US$230.99 million in equity was provided by Aboitiz Power Corp and Vivant Corporation.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.