An Antonov 225 super cargo plane lands in Mactan International Airport in Cebu on Tuesday, November 12, carrying a 140-ton generator to help restore power to Yolanda-hit areas. AFP
Lopez-led First Gen Corp. on Tuesday said it has taken delivery of the new transformer for its wholly-owned subsidiary FGP Corp. which operates a natural gas-fired power plant in Batangas.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, First Gen noted the 150-ton replacement transformer was successfully flown into using an Antonov 255 aircraft, which landed at Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
It marked the first time that the Antonov 225 landed in the Philippines. Its 150-ton load is the heaviest cargo to be loaded into an airplane in one piece and flown into the Philippines.
FGP will install the transformer in the San Lorenzo plant, a key asset to the Luzon grid, to replace similar equipment which caught fire a few months ago.
The world's largest plane is delivering a power generator to a plant in the Philippines, a freelance photojournalist network site reported over the weekend.
Demotix.com said over the weekend the Ukrainian Antonov AN-225 landed in Zagreb airport Pleso to ship a power generator to the San Lorenzo power plant.
"Due to thunder strike Philippine power plant San Lorenzo lost one of two generators that were made by ... Croatian electric company Koncar. Because of this a lot of Philippine population is without electrical energy and Philippine power plant is in hurry to get a new generator," it said.
It added the operation to lift the 140-ton generator with special cranes took all day.
FGP saw a need to expedite the manufacture and delivery of the replacement transformer to ensure sufficient power supply and stability in the Luzon grid," the disclosure read.
The transformer raises electricity voltage produced by the generator from 16.5 kilovolts (kV) to 240 kV, enabling the delivery of electricity through transmission lines of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
FGP tapped the help of an international team to speed up the delivery of the new transformer, which will replace a similar piece of equipment that caught fire a few months ago. The fire rendered Unit 60 of San Lorenzo inoperable and resulted in the loss of half—or approximately 250 megawatts—of San Lorenzo's 500-MW supply of electricity to the Luzon electrical grid.
FGP tapped an international team composed of Siemens Power Operations Inc., Siemens Koncar, Antonov Company, ACE, AIG and Inter Hanover, and Loss Adjusters Crawford and Company for the acquisition and delivery of the transformer.
Royal Cargo Combined Logistics will transport the transformer from Mactan to the plant site in Batangas City.
The Antonov AN-225 is capable of transporting weight up to 250 tons, the site noted.
Demotix said that while Kon?ar made the new 310-MVA generator a month ahead of schedule, the generator's weight presented a problem in terms of transport.
Transporting it by sea "would take another 45 days," it added.
Because of this, it said the Philippine power plant's insurer hired Antonov airlines to get the job done.
Demotix noted the Antonov AN-225 weighs 300 tons empty and has a wingspan of 88 meters.
"It was designed for military purposes, but today it servers as mega cargo plane used for transporting extremely heavy loads," it said. – Inquirer / GMA News
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Written by Makisig Bayani
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