Meralco asks DOE to approve bidding terms for 1,800-MW supply deal

By Alena Mae S. Flores – October 15, 2023, 7:40 pm
from manilastandard.net

Power retailer Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) asked the Department of Energy (DOE) to approve the terms of reference for the conduct of a new competitive selection process (CSP) for 1,800 megawatts of capacity.

Meralco is pursuing the CSP after receiving the order from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) granting the termination of its 1,800-MW power supply agreement (PSA) with the power subsidiaries of San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.’s (SMGP) subsidiaries Excellent Energy and Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. issued notices of termination of its 20-year PSAs with Meralco for 1,200 MW and 600 MW, respectively, in March.

SMGP decided to terminate its PSAs with Meralco for delivery starting 2024 and 2025 due to ERC’s non-issuance of the final approvals within the respective long stop dates in September 2021.

“We already granted their request for withdrawal of the application. It has been approved but since they have not completed, they haven’t done the CSP, they have to observe the new CSP guidelines. Because the binding rules would be the set of rules at the time you filed. Because there is a new one, they have to comply,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.

Meralco first vice president and regulatory management head Jose Ronald Valles confirmed that the company received the ERC orders granting the termination of the 1800-MW PSAs.

“We intend to replace this capacity thru CSP in compliance with ERC and DOE rules. We have already submitted a new TOR for this 1,800 MW CSP to DOE last Sept. 14 and awaiting its approval,” Valles said.

“We highlight the urgency of conducting this CSP ASAP considering that we need to implement the resulting PSAs by December 2024 for 1,200 MW and May 2025 for 600 MW after ERC approval, based on the original scheduled COD (commercial operations date),” he said.