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Psalm starts bid process for unified Leyte plants

Psalm starts bid process for unified Leyte plants Tongonan, Leyte Geothermal power plant, Philippines
Alexander Richter 20 May 2010

Philippine's Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) is to start the privatization of contracted capacities of the unified Leyte geothermal power plants.

Reported from the Philippines, “the privatization of the contracted capacities of 640-megawatt (MW) Unified Leyte geothermal power plants has already started, according to the bid documents released by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) on Monday.

In its invitation to bid, Psalm said interested parties may now officially bid for the 640-MW combined capacity of the Unified Leyte plants in Tongonan town, Leyte province.

Psalm has set the due diligence on May 17 and the prebid conference on June 16.

Psalm said the submission of bid offers has been scheduled on July 30.

Psalm said the winning bidder or independent power producer administrator (IPPA) will control the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) contracted capacities in the Unified Leyte power plants.

Energy Development Corp., (EDC) a Lopez-owned subsidiary, owns and operates the Unified Leyte plants consisting of the 125-MW Upper Mahiao, the 180-MW Mahanagdong, the 232-MW Malitbog and 51-MW optimization plants, as well as the 52-MW Mindanao 1 and the 54-MW Mindanao 2 power plants in North Cotabato.

These plants were turned over to EDC by its build, operate and transfer partners at the end of the cooperation period.

Psalm, under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), is mandated to privatize 70 percent of Napocor’s generating assets and its contracted capacities to the private sector.

To date, Psalm’s privatization level has reached the 91.73-percent mark for all its generation assets in the Luzon and Visayas grids, and 68 percent for the contracted capacities of Napocor to IPPAs.

The sale of 70 percent of Napocor’s generating assets and its contracted capacities are prerequisites to open access and retail competition, which forms part of the reforms envisioned in the Epira.

Proceeds from the privatization of state-run generating assets and contracted capacities are programmed to pay off the debts of Napocor.”

Source: Business Mirror