13 Oct 2014
"The technical difficulties encountered by Malaya Thermal Power Plant make its availability and dependability during the Malampaya shutdown from March to June 2015 uncertain," Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation President and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. stated.
Malaya Thermal Power Plant (Malaya) is a forty (40)-year old plant, composed of two (2) units with a dependable capacity of 290 MW and 340 MW each.
Malaya Unit 1 has been non-operational since 21 March 2014, due to a material loss of HP turbine rotating parts that lead to the high turbine vibration. Ideally, Malaya Unit 1's overhauling will be completed before yearend, assuming a ninety (90)-day completion period. The PSALM Bids and Awards Committee will be conducting the post-qualification of the negotiated procurement based on emergency cases this month. However, it is very likely that, upon actual opening of the unit by the contractor, a more extensive damage would be discovered. This contingency would result in an extended completion period.
Malaya Unit 2, for its part, is now available after undergoing repair last 03 October 2014 due to a leak on its Fuel Oil Heater. The repair took about eleven (11) days. Malaya Unit 2 is also due for overhauling.
Even assuming that the repair of Malaya Unit 1 shall have been successful, Malaya's one hundred percent (100%) reliable operation still cannot be guaranteed, given its age, continuous and longer dispatch at full capacity, and fuel delivery constraints.
Since the Malampaya shutdown in November 2013, Malaya Unit 1 had been in operation for 208.07 hours until its manual tripping on 21 March 2014. On the other hand, the total number of operating hours for Malaya Unit 2 since November 2013 until its shutdown last 22 September 2014 is 2301.38. Malaya has been running as a Must-Run Unit (MRU) since 2010, and this was officially confirmed by the Department of Energy in its issuance dated 22 January 2014
Assuming the Malaya's Fuel Storage Tanks are filled to the maximum useable capacity of 68 million liters and with daily fuel replenishment of 750,000 liters per day, it is estimated that Units 1 and 2 shall be able to run continuously only for 22 days at maximum load of 300MW each, 38 days at average load of 200MW each and 70 days at minimum load of 130MW each. Without fuel replenishment, Units 1 and 2 can only operate continuously for 18, 27 and 40 days at average load each of 300MW, 200MW, and Pmin (130MW), respectively. The fuel delivery cannot keep up with Malaya's high fuel consumption rate.
Malaya runs on Bunker C fuel, and is designed to operate as a base load plant. Located at Pililia, Rizal, Malaya was formerly owned by MERALCO until government take-over during martial law.
Strategic Communications and Partnership Division |