Aboitiz, First Gas, SMC vie for power deals

Two natural gas and six coal power generation facilities have initially tendered their respective offers to secure the power supply agreement (PSA) covering 600 megawatts (MW) of baseload supply requirement of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) next year.

First Gen Corp. with its natural gas-fired power plant subsidiaries First Gas Power Corp. and First NatGas Power Corp. joined Meralco’s pre-bid conference on Thursday.

All other remaining companies interested in the competitive selection process (CSP) are operating coal-fired power plants such as the Aboitiz Group affiliates Therma Luzon Inc. and GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. as well as San Miguel Corp. units Mariveles Power Generation Corp. and Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. 

DMCI joins pre-bid

DMCI Group’s Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. also joined the pre-bid conference as well as Quezon Power (Philippines) Limited Co. owned by Thai firm, Electricity Generating Public Co. 

“As an open and transparent process, the recently concluded pre-bid conference was streamed live and was attended by consumer groups as observers,” Meralco BAC-PSA chairman Larry S. Fernandez said.

“This CSP for Meralco’s baseload requirement gained the interest of the country’s major energy players, which reflects the private sector’s continuing efforts to ensure sufficient and cost-competitive supply for consumers. We look forward to the bid submissions of these prospective bidders next month,” he added. 

Earlier, Meralco said the total offered capacity from the eight bidders was “1,870 MW vis-a-vis the 600 MW requirement to be bid out.”

Meralco CSP for 600 MW will be for a 15-year PSA targeted to start on 26 August 2025.

Terms of reference of this CSP also provide that “power suppliers with natural gas-fired power plants are highly encouraged to participate in the bidding and prioritize the use of indigenous natural gas.”

Meralco’s Bids and Awards Committee set the actual bid submission deadline for this CSP on 2 August.

The minimum offered contract capacity per bidder should also be at least 150 MW.

Interested bidders’ headline rate and levelized cost of electricity will be subject to a pre-determined reserve price which will only be revealed during the opening of bid prices.