US-BASED CE Casecnan Water and Energy Co., Inc. (CE Casecnan) was allowed to continue operating its hydroelectric power facilities and diesel generating sets for Central Luzon.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said they renewed the CE Casecnan's certificate of compliance (COC) after finding it compliant to technical, financial and environmental standards that are specified in the ERC guidelines.
The renewed COC of CE Casecnan is valid for another five years, the ERC said.
“In this present cycle of renewals, the ERC is glad to observe that the operators have continued to comply with the standards and conditions set forth in the COCs,” said ERC chair Zenaida Cruz-Ducut.
CE Casecnan power facilities consisted of a two-unit hydroelectric power plant and seven units of the gensets, located in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija which can generate a combine power of 155.8-megawatt.
The company was put up in 1995 to design, develop, construct, erect, assemble, commission, finance, own and operate a combined irrigation and hydroelectric power project and related facilities in Central Luzon.
CE Casecnan is 70-percent owned by CE Casecnan II, Inc., a local company; 20-percent owned by CE Casecnan, Ltd., a Bermuda registered corporation. Both companies are indirectly, wholly-owned subsidiaries of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. (MEHC). The remaining 10 percent interest is held by a third party.
ERC said CE Casecnan’s mother company is Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., a US-based company.
The power facilities were built under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project with ultimate ownership to be eventually granted to the NIA.
At present, both electricity and water are sold to NIA who in turn sells the generated electricity to state-run National Power Corporation. (MSN/Sunnex)