SMC interested to bid for Malaya thermal-power plant
By Lenie Lectura – August 23, 2018
from Business Mirror
BUSINESSMAN Ramon S. Ang said on Thursday San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) power business is keen on participating in the planned auction of the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant (MTPP).
In a text message, Ang confirmed he is interested to bid for the government power asset.
PSALM has decided to privatize the MTPP on “as-is-where-is” basis.
PSALM President Irene Joy Garcia said the board decided to include the land in the privatization of the power facility.
“What we are planning to do with the privatization of Malaya is to include the land so it’s going to be bundled together,” she said earlier.
The state firm will engage the services of a third-party valuation firm to assess the site.
Located in Pililia, Rizal, the Malaya plant consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler.
“We got direction from the Department of Energy to look into the possibility because in the past it’s just the power plant. Now, we want to sell the power plant on as-is-where-is basis and then we will include the land so that we can optimize the value of the power plant,” Garcia said.
PSALM is determined to sell the power plant within the year, possibly in November.
“Not later than end of the year, but its going to happen in the fourth quarter,” she said.
In the past, PSALM postponed the auction for the plant, which was supposed to be sold to four interested bidders who earlier submitted letters of interest. The four bidders are APT Global Inc., Phinma Energy Corp., Riverbend Consolidated Mining Corp. and AC Energy Holdings Inc.
They submitted letters of interest on December 20, 2016. The auction was supposed to take place in March 2017 but was put on hold pending the DOE’s earlier recommendation to the PSALM Board. The DOE wanted to require the winning bidder to convert the power facility into a liquefied natural gas plant.
“We have to conduct a new bidding. It’s not a continuation of the earlier process. But to be fair to those who purchased bidding materials we are actually going to credit them the amount that they paid already for the bidding documents,” she said.
