Solar firms eye Meralco supply deal
BY LENIE LECTURA – MARCH 1, 2022
from Business Mirror
SunAsia Energy Inc. has formed a consortium of solar power developers to challenge Terra Solar’s unsolicited bid to supply 850 megawatts (MW) of mid-merit renewable energy to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
“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,” SunAsia Energy President Tetchi Capellan said in a statement.
Terra Solar is the special purpose vehicle of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. It proposed a P6.0800 per kilowatt-hour headline rate and levelized cost of electricity.
The offer includes 600 MW to be made available for Meralco by February 26, 2026; while the additional 250 MW is expected to be delivered starting February 26, 2027.
Terra Solar said 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.
As part of the competitive selection process, Meralco invited interested firms to challenge Terra Solar’s offer.
“This challenge proposed by Meralco, with DOE (Department of Energy) approval, is a very intimidating bid process. It is the biggest deal in the region. When we were reviewing the published bidding rules, we were told by our colleagues that only a fool will dare contest a giant company with deep pockets and a wide network,” Capellan said.
She said the driving force behind the collaboration was the 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.”
SunAsia Energy is confident that Meralco will recognize the potential of distributed power in avoiding system losses and consider this radical approach to power procurement.
“The combined expertise of multiple developers can match the proposal of a giant company. Of course, the success of this experiment rests in the hands of the DOE. (The) DOE is the guardian on how the competitive selection process is structured and their support will spell if the energy sector is ready to adopt a more radical way of procurement,” said Capellan.
Meralco utility economics head Lawrence Fernandez said two power firms are keen on challenging Terra Solar’s offer. The deadline for the submission of bids is on March 7.
