Solar PHL keen on bagging supply deal with Meralco

By Lenie Lectura – September 20, 2017

from Business Mirror

SOLAR Philippines Inc. is confident its offer to supply up to 85-megawatt (MW) of power to Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) at P2.99 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) would be formally sealed soon.

“We should sign soon,” Solar Philippines President Leandro Leviste said on the sidelines of a forum organized by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC).

Solar Philippines is the lone challenger to Citicore Power Inc.’s offer to supply Meralco at P3.50 per kWh.

“As Mr. Fernandez said, Citicore did not exercise its right to match last month,” said Leviste, referring to Meralco Vice President Lawrence S. Fernandez.

“Our offer to Meralco is P2.99 per kWh. the price that we had offered is to show in good faith that this can be the standard price for 5,000 MW of solar that can replace the current pipeline of new fossil fuel power plants,” Leviste pointed out.  “It might not be an attractive price for a single 85 MW plant but it would be viable for 5,000 MW to replace fossil fuel.”

On June 28 Meralco published an invitation to bid in a competitive selection process (CSP) to supply 85 MW. Citicore proposed to supply power to Meralco  at  P3.50 per kWh. Subsequently, a counter offer was made by Solar Philippines.

This is the second competitive bidding conducted by Meralco for solar supply contracts. Solar Philippines Tanauan Corp. and PowerSource First Bulacan Solar Inc. have offered 50 MW each at a price of P5.39 per kwh for 20 years, lower than the latest solar feed-in tariff (FiT) rate of P8.69 per kwh.

Solar Philippines will supply 25 MW from its solar farms in Tanauan, Batangas and Naic, Cavite, which are targeted for completion in February and April 2017, respectively.

Also, Leviste said the output of its 150-MW solar project in Tarlac is already fully contracted.

“We also have contracted the rest of our Tarlac plant already,” he said. “So we have actually more than 150MW in contract for Tarlac.”

Leviste said half of the Tarlac facility’s output has been contracted to Meralco and the other half to contestable customers.

“Our license is pending with the ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission] but there are other ways that we can supply them,” he explained. “Anyway the contracts are not yet effective.”