DOE chief to meet with Korean firm for Angat plant

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla is meeting with Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-Water) this week to discuss the firm’s request to lower the $440.88 million price tag on the Angat hydro powerplant facility.

K-Water is hoping the governments lower the tab for the 218 megawatt (MW) Angat plant, which it won in a bidding in 2010, citing the facility’s state and several signed provisions agreed by the government and the Korean firm.

Among the discussion points raised by K-Water in a recent letter to Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), the country’s chief agency in privatizing energy assets, include:

• Achieving the same level of benefits expected in 2010 bid
• Inclusion of Angat plant’s auxilliary units 4 and 5 in the takeover

Petilla declined to disclose more details about the meeting.

“I am meeting (K-Water) to talk about some issues of Angat and how we can have an amicable settlement to make sure everybody is benefitting from it.”

“I am about to negotiate, so I cannot tell you the details of what we are talking about,” he said.

Petilla added the government only wants an acceptable or a “win-win situation” for both the government and K-Water. – Rappler.com