Since DMCI HI acquired SMPC (formerly SCC), it has successfully transitioned from a coal mining company into the only vertically integrated energy enterprise in the Philippines.
Today, it is the dominant local source of the country’s energy requirements, supplying coal to power plants, cement plants, and other small boilers. As an emerging key player in the Philippine power industry, it is committed to providing affordable and reliable power electricity to millions of Filipinos nationwide.
About the Company
Incorporated in the Philippines on 26 February 1980, SMPC began as the Semirara Coal Corporation (SCC). It had exclusive rights to explore, extract and develop the coal resources in Semirara Island, Antique Province – a right the company retains to this day.
After commencing commercial operations in 1988, the Company struggled through low productivity, operational inefficiencies, debt restructuring, falling coal prices, and the Philippine peso devaluation.
In April 1997, DMCI Holdings, Inc. (DMCI HI) acquired a 40% interest in SCC’s Common Shares, including PHP2.5 billion of its outstanding loans.
Following SCC’s sustained financial difficulties, DMCI HI agreed to a debt-to-equity conversion in 1998, raising its total interest in SMPC to 74%.
After gaining a controlling interest in SMPC, DMCI HI appointed a new management team composed of local and expatriate staff in August 1999. Soon after, it changed its name to Semirara Mining Corporation (SMC).
Since then, SMPC has adopted flexible, cost-efficient and more advanced mining techniques to increase the quantity and improve the quality of its coal production.
Integrating Forward
In 2009, DMCI HI acquired the 600MW coal-fired power plants from the National Power Corporation (NPC) and assigned its rights over the plant to SMPC, turning the company into the only vertically integrated power generation enterprise in the country.
Located in Calaca, Batangas, both units were primarily designed to run as base-load plants using coal from Semirara Island. However, due to low budget allocations from the Philippine government, the plants rapidly deteriorated, reducing their dependable capacity to around 350 MW.
To address the problem, the Calaca plants underwent rehabilitation and retrofitting in 2011. This enabled the Company to deliver additional power to the Luzon grid.
In August 2014, SMC changed its name to the Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) after successfully bidding for the 600 megawatt (MW) Calaca power plant of the National Power Corporation (NPC).
In August 2016, Southwest Luzon Power Corporation (SLPGC) commenced commercial operations of 2x150 MW CFB coal-fired plants, growing the company’s power capacity by 50% to 900MW.
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