Conglomerates seeking to manage Mindanao coal plant

MANILA, Philippines – Subsidiaries of the Lopez group, San Miguel Corporation, as well as Aboitiz power are among the 12 firms interested in managing the output of the 200-megawatt (MW) Mindanao Coal-fired Thermal Plant.

On Friday, April 17, government-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation released the list of the 12 investor groups who will bid to be appointed the Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA) of the plant.

The groups are:

• SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation
• FirstGen Northern Power Corporation
• Therma Southern Mindanao
• Conal Holdings Corporation
• FDC Davao Del Norte Power Corporation
• GDF Suez Energy Philippines
• Masinloc Power Partners Corporation. Ltd.
• Meralco Powergen Corporation
• Nexif Pte Ltd.
• SPC Power Corporation
• Team Energy Corporation
• Vivant Energy Corporation

PSALM confirmed that the interested bidders have all paid the participation fee and executed confidentiality agreements and undertakings.

“We are delighted with the number of prospective bidders, which is more than our first IPPA bidding for the Mindanao region, the Mindanao I and II (Mt. Apo 1 and 2) Geothermal Power Plants,” said Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. PSALM President and Chief Executive Officer 

PSALM will conduct the pre-bid conference for the prospective bidders on May 6, in preparation for the bidding scheduled on September 23.

Located in Misamis Oriental, the Mindanao coal plant was constructed in 2006 under a 25-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Power Purchase Agreement scheme, which ends in 2031.

The cooperation period with the operator, STEAG State Power Incorporated, officially ends in 2031.

PSALM will also auction the selection and appointment of an IPPA for the Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants (ULGPP).

Six companies expressed their interest to participate in the bidding process, Ledesma said last week in a text message.

“However, out of the said figure, only 4 prospective bidders paid for participation fee and executed confidentiality agreement and undertaking,” he said.

ULGPP consists of the 125 MW Upper Mahiao, 232.5-MW Malitbog, 180-MW Mahanagdong and 51-MW Optimization plants. – Rappler.com