23 gencos pitch offers to supply Meralco power needs via CSP
By Lenie Lectura – August 19, 2019
from Business Mirror
THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has received a total of 23 offers from power generation companies that are interested to supply the utility firm’s power requirements via competitive selection process (CSP).
The utility firm is bidding out three power supply contracts with a total capacity of 2,900 megawatts. These are a five-year contract for a 500 MW mid-merit capacity, a 20-year contract for 1,200 MW greenfield and a 10-year contract for 1,200 MW brownfield capacity.
“Eleven submitted expressions of interest [EOI] for the CSP for the 1,200 MW baseload requirement, effective December 26, 2019, with an aggregated offered capacity of 2,830 MW,” said Meralco Utility Economics Head Lawrence Fernandez in an interview.
The 11 firms interested to participate in the CSP of 1,200 MW brownfield capacity are Phinma Energy, Energy Development Corp., Quezon Power, Solar Philippines, Southwest Luzon Power, Therma Luzon, AP Renewables, Masinloc Power, San Miguel Energy, South Premiere Power and SMC Consolidated.
“Meanwhile, eight submitted EOI for the CSP for the 500 MW mid-merit requirement, also effective December 26, 2019, with an aggregate offered capacity of 1,200 MW,” added Fernandez.
These are Team Energy, First Gen Hydro Power, Phinma Energy, Solar Philippines, Therma Luzon, AP Renewables, South Premiere Power and SMC Consolidated. For the 1,200 MW greenfield capacity, Fernandez identified four interested bidders. These are First Gen, Atimonan One, Panasia Enegy and Mariveles Power.
“Finally, four submitted EOIs for the CSP for 1,200 MW baseload, with commercial operations date of 2034,”said Fernandez.
Mid-merit power plants are those that can adjust the power output as demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day. Greenfield power plants are those that are built from scratch while brownfield plants are those that are already existing.
The CSP requires distribution utilities to hold competitive bidding for their supply requirements as against securing power deals via bilateral contracts. This is meant to ensure transparency and fair competition.
Meralco earlier inked seven PSAs with several power generation companies, including two from its power generation arm Meralco PowerGen, which is building power plants under Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. and Atimonan One Energy Inc.
The remaining five are with St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., Meralco’s joint venture with Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp.; Central Luzon Premiere Power Corp. (CLPPC); Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC); Panay Energy Development Corp.; and Global Luzon Energy Development Corp.
CLPPC and MPGC are under SMC Global Power Holdings, the power arm of SMC.
However, these PSAs, with a total capacity of over 3,500 MW, were not implemented following the Supreme Court order that all power supply agreements filed on or before June 30, 2015, shall undergo CSP.
The SC decision stemmed from allegations that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) gave due preference to Meralco by extending the deadline for compliance of CSP.
The ERC appealed the SC ruling. However, this was denied recently.
The ERC said it would file a Motion for Clarification on how to implement the SC decision.
