PSALM to bid out 360-MW Magat hydropower plant before yearend

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) will bid out the 360-megawatt (MW) Magat hydropower plant in Isabela by the latter part of this year.

PSALM, an entity tasked to privatize the transmission and generation assets of the state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor), said interested parties can start their due diligence on the plant on Oct. 10. A pre-bid conference is also scheduled on Oct. 25. The actual bidding process, however, is yet to be announced.

Interested parties are given up to Oct. 14 to submit their respective letters of interest (LOI) together with their latest audited financial statements. Only those entities that submit their LOI will be allowed to participate in the bidding.

The Magat hydroelectric plant, located in Ramon, Isabela, is Asia’s biggest dam project which serves the primary functions of power generation and irrigation.

The plant started commercial operations in 1983 and was built at a cost of $83.7 million.

The Magat plant is among the few power plants scheduled to be sold by the government in the remainder of the year.

Aside from Magat, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said they also expect the second round of bidding for the 225-megawatt MW Bataan Thermal power plant.

The Batangas-based 600-MW Calaca coal-fired power facility, on the other hand, would be undertaking a re-bidding process by this month.

The 12-MW Masiway hydropower plant, meanwhile, will be auctioned off by November, Lotilla said. At about the same period, PSALM also expects the bidding for the 100-MW Pantabangan hydropower plant.

According to Lotilla, the privatization program will be intensified to reduce stranded debt and contribute to managing the country’s fiscal deficit.

The intensified privatization program, he said, would involve the timely preparations for the updated sale schedule and bidding of assets of Napocor; timely resolution of plant specific issues such as land titling, water rights/water charges, operation and maintenance of non-power component of hydroelectric plants; strategic modification for disposal of decommissioned plants; and deferred payments, with interest, for plants 100 MW and above to promote investor interest and optimize proceeds to government.

So far, PSALM has sold six plants with a combined proceeds of $567 million or $0.932 per MW of capacity. This represents 14 percent of the total generating capacity of Napocor plants in Luzon and Visayas.