The contract was placed by local owner First Gen Hydro Power Corp in the early months of this year. Pantabangan was the first plant to be privatized under the country’s auction of the assets, and First Gen acquired the facility in 2006.
andritz said the contract calls for the replacement of two 52MW Francis turbines. The upgrade will increased the installed capacity by 17% to 122MW.
In addition, it requires new stator windings, modernization of the governor and other electrical equipment, automation systems installed, a new static excitation system, protection systems for the generator and transformer plus mew switchgear and low-voltage distribution.
The first unit is to be rehabilitated over July-December 2009, and work on the second unit is to be completed a year later.
The plant was built in Luzon in 1977. It was the first significant facility owned by the National Power Corp (NPC). It has been in operation for over 30 years without a major overhaul, Andritz added.
Previously, the privatization agency, Psalm, said that the upgrade and refurbishment would extend the life of the plant by 25 years. In the latest statement, Andritz said the plant would gain another 30 years.
First Gen bought the Pantabangan plant along with the Masiway facility for US$129M in September 2006. The early plan was to add a total of 30MW extra capacity at Pantabangan but the plan is now for an additional 36MW.
There has been no further comment by the client on the early plan to install an additional unit of 65MW at Pantabangan, and the extra plant also planned for Masiway. They have been scheduled to be installed following the refurbishment work.
