FIRST Gen Corp. is aiming to be a key LNG power player with the ongoing development of a liquefied natural gas plant in Sta. Maria, Batangas, and progress at an interim offshore terminal project.

"We continue to work on the development of the Santa Maria project with a capacity of up to 1,200 megawatts (MW), using the latest available gas turbine in the market to maximize efficiency and provide more MW with less fuel requirements," First Gen said in an annual report filed on Monday.

The company announced in 2021 that it was planning to open the Santa Maria LNG power plant by late 2024 or early 2025.

Its LNG interim offshore terminal has also progressed as business unit FGEN LNG "already achieved practical completion in March 2023."

"It has successfully completed the tender and receipt of three LNG cargoes since completion of the terminal," it said.

The Sta. Maria project will enable the company "to utilize both Malampaya gas and LNG for the 2,000-MW power plants located at the First Gen Clean Energy complex," it continued.

FGEN LNG has already completed the commissioning activities, it added.

The Sta. Maria project will enable the company "to be in a better position to make the power plant available in time to meet the expected growth in grid demand, and further help stabilize the grid by complementing intermittent renewables with more natural gas plants," it said.

The plant will be "designed to serve baseload and mid-merit requirements of the Luzon grid."

The company recorded a four-percent rise in attributable recurring net income for 2023 to $277 million (about P5.4 billion), mostly driven by earnings from the geothermal portfolio of its subsidiary, Energy Development Corp. (EDC), and higher yields from internally generated cash.

First Gen is the primary holding company for the power generation and energy-related businesses of the Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp.

It claims to have the largest portfolio of power plants that use green energy and its 65-percent controlled subsidiary, EDC, is said to be the largest vertically-integrated geothermal company in the world.

First Gen shares rose by 80 centavos, or 0.41 percent, to P19.52 on Monday.