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PSALM to award Mt. Apo IPP contract this month

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) in the Philippines is currently completing the post-qualification evaluation of the bids for the contract for Mt. Apo.

News from the Philippines state that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is eyeing the turnover of the Mt. Apo geothermal power plants’ contracted capacities within this month, the firm’s top official said.

The state-run power firm is currently completing the post-qualification evaluation of the bids for the contract.

Last month, Gotianun-led FDC Misamis Corp. was named as the top bidder during the auction for the deal with its P128-million offer.

FDC Misamis is a subsidiary of FDC Utilities, Inc., which in turn is the utilities arm of the listed conglomerate Filinvest Development Corp.

The top bidder bested its only competitor, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., which submitted a P50-million bid.

While both companies passed the technical and financial requirements, Mr. Ledesma said only FDC Misamis met the reserve price set by PSALM Board.

The winning bidder for the auction will be in charge of selling the capacity generated by the Mt. Apo power plants under two separate IPP contracts. Each of the power plants has a capacity of 54.24 megawatts.

Located in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, the power plants were commissioned on Feb. 15, 1997 and June 17, 1999 under a build-operate-and-own contract with Energy Development Corp.

The cooperation period for both plants is 25 years and will expire on Feb. 15, 2022 and June 17, 2024, respectively

While the privatization earlier attracted the interest of nine firms — seven of which were prequalified to bid — five firms decided not to push through with their participation in the auction.

These companies were: EDC Mindanao Geothermal, Inc.; GDF Suez Energy Philippines, Inc.; Therma Southern Mindanao, Inc.; Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.; and Vivant Geo Power Corp.

PSALM was formed under Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to assume ownership of and manage all National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) assets, liabilities, contracts with independent power producers and other disposable assets.

The firm is also in charge of privatizing and disposing of these assets to liquidate Napocor’s financial obligations.

Source: Business World Online

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