Meralco moves supply bid deadline
BY LENIE LECTURA – MARCH 7, 2022
from Business World
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has moved the deadline for the submission of counter offers for the supply of 850 megawatts (MW) of mid-merit renewable energy that the utility firm would need by 2026.
Meralco utility economics head Lawrence Fernandez said the bid submission deadline was moved, initially to March 14, then to April 5.
“The Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) received a request from a bidder to extend the bid submission deadline,” said Fernandez.
Meralco head of Regulatory Management Office Ronaldo Valles said the TPBAC received expressions of interest from SMC Global Light and Power Corp. and SunAsia Energy Inc. to challenge the unsolicited bid of Terra Solar.
Valles said both challengers are building a 2,500-MW solar and 4,000-MWh battery energy storage.
They will challenge the bid of Terra Solar, which proposed a P6.0800 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) headline rate and levelized cost of electricity. It proposed a 2,500-MW solar and a 4,000-MWh battery storage. In particular, it proposed to supply Meralco 600 MW which will be made available to the utility firm on February 26, 2026; while the additional 250 MW is expected to be delivered starting February 26, 2027.
Terra Solar is the special purpose vehicle of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. It will source power from its planned solar power plants with Energy Storage System in Batangas-Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Zambales. The bid invite stated that these plants are under development.
SunAsia Energy earlier said it formed a consortium of solar power developers to challenge Terra Solar’s unsolicited bid.
“For the first time, a community of solar developers and independent power producers broke free from their traditional mindset and decided to pool their resources and share talents to offer the largest utility company a green solution for 2026,” said SunAsia Energy President Tetchi Capellan in a statement, adding that the latest Competitive Supply Procurement of Meralco is “a very intimidating bid process” since it is the biggest deal in the region.
“What urged us to challenge Terra Solar was not so much our common desire to acquire a power purchase agreement of this magnitude. The driving force behind our collaboration was our collective commitment to dismantle the old notion of how power supply is acquired. We cannot afford not to submit a counter offer in this tender as it will shape future competitive selection process (CSP).”
Separately, Valles said that the Department of Energy has approved the terms of reference for the 180MW CSP of baseload capacity that will supply the requirements of Meralco from February 26 to July 25. He said this would replace the higher price of fuel of First Gas plants arising from the Malampaya gas supply restriction.
