Bidding for Meralco’s 850MW RE demand declared a failure

BY LENIE LECTURA – APRIL 5, 2022
from Business Mirror

THE competitive bidding for the 850-megawatt (MW) renewable energy (RE) mid-merit requirement of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) was declared a failure last Thursday by the Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC).

There was no bid offer received on the April 5 deadline to challenge the unsolicited proposal of Terra Solar Philippines Inc.

Terra Solar is the special purpose vehicle of Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. led by Leandro Leviste.

According to the TPBAC, there were no comparative bids received on Tuesday even if two interested bidders initially expressed interest to participate in the bidding. These are SMC Global Light and Power (SGLP) and SunAsia Energy Inc.

SGLP wrote and notified the TPBAC that it would no longer participate in the 850MW CSP. SunAsia, meanwhile, did not submit a bid but instead submitted and read a “Notice of Non-Submission of Bid.”

SunAsia manifested its interest to participate in the next round of Competitive Selection Process (CSP), should there be any. The TPBAC will welcome its participation, it said.

Pursuant to Section 9 of the Revised CSP Rules, a “comparative bidding is considered failed when, during its conduct, no comparative bid was received by the TPBAC.” The bid submission was attended by several observers from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Meralco started the CSP via competitive challenge for the contract capacity of 850-MW RE on January 22, following the DOE’s approval of the CSP’s Terms of Reference and Bid Requirements. The original bid submission deadline was March 7, but this was later extended to April 5 to accommodate a prospective bidder’s request for more time.

The TPBAC emphasized that its decisions were made in consideration of its mandate to uphold the policy under the EPIRA and the revised CSP rules to conduct a competitive public bidding, which ensures the quality, reliability, security and affordability of electric power supply to Meralco’s captive customers. The TPBAC did not receive any motion or request to further extend the deadline.

Terra Solar offered P6.0800 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for headline rate and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). It proposed to supply Meralco 600 MW to be made available by February 26, 2026; while the additional 250 MW is expected to be delivered starting February 26, 2027.

It will source power from its planned solar power plants with Energy Storage System (ESS) located in Batangas-Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales. These plants are under development.