18 groups keen on Calaca 

A total of 18 groups showed up in the pre-bid conference last Tuesday for the 600-megawatt (MW) Calaca coal-fired power plant, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said.

Based on a list furnished to reporters, PSALM said among the companies eyeing Calaca are: International Power Plc; One Energy; Phil-Mal Energy; JSW Energy; Suez-Tractebel; Calaca High Power; AES Calaca Pte; Salcon Power; and Korea Electric Power Corp.

Other prospective bidders include DMCI Holdings, Marubeni Corp., Anglo-Cayman, Global Business Resources, YTL Power Int’l, Trans-asia Oil and Energy, First Gen Luzon, Bansec Group and CBI-Global Netherlands B.V.

Sources privy to the pre-bid conference revealed that the issue of transition supply contract (TSC) remains a main concern among the potential bidders.

 PSALM and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) jointly decide on the TSC level to be attached to each power plant to be sold. Napocor president Cyril del Callar earlier said they have already approved the level of TSCs on all power plants to be disposed.

PSALM and Napocor earlier agreed to attach 265 megawatts of TSC to the 600-MW Masinloc power plant scheduled to be auctioned off on July 26.

Del Callar, however, declined to say exactly how much will be allocated for Calaca and the other plants that would be put up for sale by PSALM.

On Oct. 16, Calaca will be placed in the auction block for the third time. The two past biddings in April 2006 and May 2005 failed due to the absence of a TSC which prompt bidders to submit lower bids than the reserve price set by PSALM.

Calaca could run on local coal, some of which can be sourced from the Semirara coal mine in Antique.

 The Calaca facility, which consists of two 300-MW generating units, is primarily designed to run on a base-load plant and can operate as a network-frequency regulating plant at a minimum stable load of 150 MW per unit.

Both units are also designed for plant redundancy, which means that one unit can undergo maintenance without affecting the plant’s full output.