Nine power companies with combined offers of 5,850 megawatts participated in the competitive selection process for the supply of 1,800 MW to Manila Electric Co. over a 20-year period.
“Nine submissions were received by the deadline, equivalent to 5,850 MW of capacity offered to supply the 1,800-MW requirement undergoing CSP,” Meralco vice president and head of utility economics department Lawrence Fernandez said Wednesday.
There were initially 18 companies that expressed interest to participate with offers totaling 7,000 MW.
“Some formally withdrew their participation, while others did not submit their documents by the deadline,” Fernandez said.
He said the offers came from several technologies such as liquefied natural gas, coal, and renewable energy.
Sources said of the nine bidders, three were from San Miguel Corp. with a total offer of 2,400 MW. The three companies are Excellent Energy Resources Inc. which is building an LNG facility in Batangas, Mariveles Power Generation Corp. and Masinloc Power Partners Ltd.
Other bidders are St. Raphael Power Generation Inc. of the Consunji Group, Atimonan One Energy Inc. of Meralco PowerGen Corp. and GNPower Dinginin Ltd. which is controlled by Aboitiz Power Corp.
New player Kingstone Energy, Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc. of the Ayala Group and Solar Philippines also submitted offers.
Fernandez said Meralco, the country’s biggest power distributor with over seven million customers in its franchise area, plans to open the price offers by Feb. 10.
“Due to the number of potential bidders, the TPBAC, with the support of the TWG and the independent engineer to be engaged, will need time to evaluate the documents to be submitted,” Fernandez said earlier, explaining the longer time in opening the price offers.
Meralco last year published the terms of reference for the invitation to bid for 1,800 MW of supply, including 1,200 MW which should be available by December 2024 and 600 MW by May 2025.
The contract covers 20 years and the supply will come from a single or portfolio of baseload power plants provided that the plants should be in commercial operation not earlier than January 2020 and not later than May 2025.
Meanwhile, Meralco reassured the public and stakeholders that the process remains competitive and continues to comply with the standards set by the government and the regulator to achieve the lowest possible cost for consumers.
Fernandez said the CSP is competitive and aboveboard.
“As a regulated entity, Meralco always conducts its business in full compliance with all rules and regulations issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. In fact, as seen in the previous bidding, the terms of reference were reviewed and approved by the DOE, and all contracts that result from the bidding process are subjected to regulatory proceedings and evaluation by the ERC,” Fernandez said.
