Power auction gets DOE nod
BY LENIE LECTURA – APRIL 18, 2022
from Business Mirror
THE Department of Energy (DOE) has given the Manila Electric Co. the green light to proceed with the second round of competitive bidding for the 850megawatt renewable energy (RE) mid-merit (MW) and 180MW of baseload power supply requirements.
Meralco will proceed to conduct the competitive selection process (CSP) for the 850MW power supply deal, starting with a pre-bid conference on April 25, followed by the deadline of submission of expression of interest on May 18, and the bid submission deadline and opening of bids on May 25.
Interested bidders who will challenge the unsolicited proposal of Terra Solar Philippines, Inc. must post a bid security amounting to P2.5 billion and secure the bid documents for P4.25 million.
Last April 5, Meralco declared the CSP for the 850MW a failure after the Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) did not receive any bid offer that would have challenged the unsolicited proposal of Terra Solar, the special purpose vehicle of Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. led by Leandro Leviste.
Terra Solar offered P6.0800 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for headline rate and levelized cost of electricity. 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 in Batangas-Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Zambales. These plants are under development.
According to the TPBAC, there were no comparative bids received 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 had already manifested its interest to participate in the next round of CSP.
Also, Meralco secured the go-ahead of the DOE to conduct a second CSP for the 180MW power supply deal, which was intended to augment available supply during the summer months and to cover for the output of plants that are affected by Malampaya facility’s continued inability to supply adequate natural gas fuel.
Under the approved TOR, Meralco proposed that the required contract period runs from May 26 to July 25 this year, and maybe extended for up to five months, upon mutual agreement by the parties.
The minimum offered capacity per bidder is at least 50MW.
The first competitive auction last March 31 was declared a failure because there was no expression of interest received by the TPBAC.
For the second round, the deadline for the submission of expression of interest is set on April 27. A pre-bid conference is scheduled on May 4, while May 23 is the bid submission deadline and opening of bids.
Interested bidders must pay a bid security of P3.75 million.
