Tuas Power starts up its gas-fired cogen plant

TUAS Power has just started up its latest 406-megawatt, gas-fired cogeneration plant, which will help the third-largest genco here maintain its Singapore market position especially given "the much fiercer competition" this year, parent China Huaneng said in Beijing yesterday.

The more efficient, environmental-friendly cogen unit, costing some $400 million, increases Tuas Power's gas-fired capacity to 1,876 MW, or 70 per cent of the genco's total 2,670 MW generating capacity.

But Tuas Power is holding off further planned cogeneration and utility expansions at this time, its president and CEO Lim Kong Puay told The Business Times. This is because of the current oversupply here, as existing players have either "repowered" older steam units or added new cogen units to take advantage of recently available LNG feedstock, and as new entrants like PacificLight Power have come in.