Ayala energy unit may bid for IPP contracts
By Alena Mae S. Flores – November 16, 2018 at 08:35 pm
from manilastandard.net
AC Energy Inc., a unit of Ayala Corp., may join the planned privatization of the government’s remaining independent power producer contracts scheduled next year.
“We’ll probably look at it, we’ll have to look at it. It’s not core to strategy. But we will look at it at a minimum,” AC Energy president Eric Francia said.
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. is hiring consultants to determine the privatization options of the independent power producer contracts with an approved budget of P22.66 million.
The IPPA process gives successful bidders a chance to join the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market on a minimal capital outlay. It provides the administrators an opportunity to trade in the WESM without the expense of building a new plant.
“PSALM is now in the process of formulating and evaluating viable options for the privatization of its remaining IPP contracts, namely CBK, Casecnan and Mindanao Coal Plants. These are the ones that have not yet been privatized,” PSALM president Irene Joy Besido Garcia said.
“Accordingly, the objective of the consulting services is to assist PSALM in achieving the best structure for privatization of these IPP contracts through the conduct of a comprehensive study to determine viable privatization options, terms and conditions for such privatization, as well as the corporate structures,” she said.
PSALM has not yet privatized the IPP contracts of the 797.92-megawatt Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan hydro power plants, 200-MW Mindanao-coal fired power plant and the 150 MW-Casecnan hydro station.
The CBK hydro facility consists of the 22.6-megawatt Caliraya in Lumban, 20.8-MW Botocan in Majayjay and the 684.6-MW Kalayaan I and II in Kalayaan, Laguna province. J-Power and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan operate the CBK power plants.
The 150-MW Casecnan project was built following the signing of a build-operate-transfer contract between the National Irrigation Administration and California Energy Casecnan Water and Energy Company Inc. in 1994.
