Meralco PowerGen Corp. and ACEN Corp. are studying the planned asset sale of the 796.64-megawatt Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant complex in Lumban, Majayjay, and Kalayaan, Laguna.
PSALM’s privatization bids and awards committee invited interested parties to participate in the bid for the sale of the CBK hydro plants, which are being privatized on an “as is, where is” basis. PSALM set the proposal submission date on June 16, 2025.
“It depends on how PSALM will package CBK. CBK apparently is not going to be an IPPA [independent power producer administrator]. It’s asset sale,” MGEN president Emmanuel Rubio said.
The CBK hydroelectric power plant complex consists of three separate facilities and plays a central role in the Luzon power system. It is one of the few remaining big-ticket power assets that are up for privatization by the government.
It is run by independent power producer CBK Power Co. Ltd. under a 25-year build–rehabilitate–operate–transfer (BROT) contract, which will expire in 2026.
“We’ll take a look at it,” ACEN president Eric Francia said when asked for comment.
PSALM issued the first invitation to bid for CBK in December 2023 for the selection and appointment of the independent power producer administrator (IPPA).
PSALM president Dennis de la Serna said they decided to cancel the previous bidding amid concerns on the independent power producer administration agreement.
“We decided to cancel and rebid. We plan for a straight asset sale. We hope the previous interested parties will still be there for this new process,” he said.
Among the interested bidders of the previous bidding were the consortium of Aboitiz Renewables Inc., Electric Power Development Co. and Sumitomo Corp. (Thunder consortium), First Gen Prime Energy Corp., Giga Ace 11, Inc., Korea Water Resources Corp. Marubeni Corp., Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. and Semirara Mining and Power Corp.
PSALM tapped the Asian Development Bank as the transaction advisor to monetize CBK hydro power plants. The Department of Finance is hoping to raise P50 billion to P100 billion from the privatization.
Meanwhile, Rubio said he supported the position of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) to evaluate the 4,250 pumped storage hydro target under the Green Energy Auction 3.
“Just actually asking, what’s the government going to do with 4,000 megawatts of pumped storage in GEA when a cheaper alternative would be batteries providing the same service?” Rubio said.