PSALM to rebid Manila thermal plant

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has said it will rebid the 200-megawatt (MW) decommissioned Manila Thermal Power Plant.

PSALM vice president Froilan Tampinco said that during the bidding of the plant early this month, only one bidder appeared.

According to Tampinco, there was a slight misunderstanding on the part of PSALM and prospective bidders for the power plant.

The PSALM official said five of the four prospective bidders thought that the land would be included in the bidding of the power facility’s assets.

"They decided to withdraw when they learned that the land was excluded from the bid. We are going for a second round because we got only one bidder," Tampinco said.

He said the second bidding for Manila Thermal would be held immediately after PSALM has sold the Bataan thermal plant which is scheduled late next month.

Earlier, PSALM said there were five firms interested to bid for the Manila thermal plant. These include three foreign firms from China and Japan and two local firms.

Manila Thermal was formerly owned and operated by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) until former President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to monopolize the power generation industry.

The plant, formerly known as Tegen plant, was decommissioned in January 2000.  Unit I of the plant was commissioned on Sept. 1, 1965 while Unit II was commissioned on Oct. 15, 1966.

Manila Thermal has air pollution control facilities that enabled it to handle 996,000 pounds of gas per hour at a 280F temperature, as well as handle up to two tons of dust per hour from its two units. 

The plant also has water pollution control facilities, consisting of the oil-water separator, which prevents oil spills and leakages into the nearby Pasig River, and the Sewage-Treatment facility, which ensures the proper and clean disposal of sewage from the service building.

Manila Thermal, the first decommissioned power facility to be sold by PSALM, is the second largest power facility of Napocor put in the auction block after the 600-MW Masinloc coal-fired power plant.

To intensify privatization efforts, PSALM has drawn new strategies and plans of action.

The proposed strategies aims to bring assets to market as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on positive buyer sentiment and under a plan that maximizes value within PSALM’s procedure and limitations for fair and transparent auctions.

PSALM also proposes to identify assets expected to receive greatest interest from investors.

It also intends to identify assets with least plant specific issues still to be resolved such as concerns on steam supply agreements.

According to PSALM, it will also arrange auction of assets in blocks such that each block is represented by different fuel type to maximize bidder universe.

It said it will also allow for a short period of time (three to four weeks) between assets of each block of assets.

It also intends to schedule one bid per day during a "bidding period" (one to two weeks).

Based on the proposed ideal blocks for bidding, PSALM will sell as Block 1 —600 MW Calaca (coal), 12 MW Masiway (hydro), 100 MW Pantabangan (hydro), and 150 MW Bacman (geothermal).

Block 2 is composed of 620-MW Limay plus site (diesel); 360 MW Magat (hydro), 685 MW Tiwi-Makban (geothermal).

Block 3, on the other hand, will be composed of 850 MW Sucat (bunker), 310 MW Navotas I and II (diesel), 193 MW Palinpinon (geothermal), 175 MW Ambuklao and Binga (hydro).

Block 4, meanwhile, will consist of 246 MW Angat (hydro), 147 MW Panay and Pinamucan (bunker), 114 MW Iligan I and II (diesel), 113 MW Tongonan (geothermal), 22 MW Bohol (diesel), and 1.8 MW Amlan (hydro).