Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Bidding for Tiwi, Makban power plants set
THE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corporation said the auction of the 289-megawatt (MW) Tiwi and 458.53-MW Makban geothermal power plant complex in June.
In a statement, Psalm said it is now accepting Letters of Interest from prospective investors for the two geothermal plants until March 12.
The bid covers the generating assets, which are being offered on an "as is, where is" basis, structures and improvements, spare parts, and general plant equipment of the Tiwi and Makban power plants.
It also covers the steam field facilities and the Geothermal Resources Sales Contract between Psalm and the Philippine Geothermal, Inc. (now Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings, Inc.), the steam supplier for the two facilities.
A power supply allocation will be affixed to the Tiwi-Makban plant package, but no exact figure was revealed yet.
"As a prerequisite to the issuance of the bidding package, interested parties are required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement and Undertaking with Psalm and pay a non-refundable participation fee of US$2,000 not later than 14 March," the agency said.
The pre-bid conference for interested bidders will be held on April 2 at Psalm main office in Makati City while the bidding will be held on June 4.
Located in Tiwi, Albay province, the Tiwi geothermal power plant complex consists of three plants, namely, Plant A with two 60-MW units, Plant B with two 55-MW units, and Plant C with two 57-MW units. Plant B's Unit 4 was retired or decommissioned in 2003.
On the other hand, the Makban plant complex in Southern Luzon -- Bay and Calauan in Laguna and Sto. Tomas in Batangas is consists of Plants A and B with two 63-MW units each, Plant C with two 55-MW units, Plants D and E with two 20-MW units each, and a binary plant with five 3-MW and one 0.73-MW units.
The Tiwi and Makban geothermal power plants were first commissioned in 1979.
The two power plants were initially offered as a package in September 2005. The bidding, however, was withdrawn by Psalm to consider changes in the Bidding Procedures and Transaction Documents that the government power privatization firm has been adopting in its recently sold assets.
Psalm already sold the 112-MW Pantabangan-Masiway plant package and the 360-MW Magat hydro power plants in 2006 while in 2007 the government's ongoing privatization program was further strengthened with the sale of the 600-MW Masinloc and 600-MW Batangas (Calaca) coal-fired power plants, and the 175-MW Ambuklao-Binga hydroelectric power plant package.
Aside from the five power facilities, the power agency successfully auction the 25-year concession for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco), with the consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources was declared as the winning bidder. (MSN/Sunnex)
