PSALM to package sale of Visayas power plants

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the state agency in charge of the privatization of National Power Corp. (Napocor) assets, will sell the Visayas-based Palinpinon geothermal power plant and Panay diesel plant as a single package.

“After the successful sale of the Masinloc power plant last July, PSALM is set to auction off the Calaca coal-fired power plant in October, the Ambuklao-Binga hydropower facilities in November and the TransCo concession in December. Plans are also afoot to bid out the Palinpinon geothermal plant and the Panay diesel facility as one package, and the Tiwi-Makban geothermal complex before the year ends,” PSALM president Jose Ibazeta said.

But the PSALM official did not specify whether the two power plants of Palinpinon and the two units of Panay will all be included in the package.

The Panay diesel plants 1 and 3 are located in Dingle, Iloilo. Panay 1 has a current capacity of 36.5 megawatts (MW) while Panay 3, with a 110-MW capacity, is still under commissioning.

Palinpinon I, meanwhile, is located in Valencia, Negros Oriental while Palinpinon II, which consists of three modular power plants – Nasuji, Okoy 5 and Sogongon – is located approximately five kilometers away from Palinpinon I. Palinpinon 1 and 2 have a combined capacity of 172.5 MW.

The geothermal steam of the Palinpinon power plants is being supplied by state-owned PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC).

Ibazeta said he expects the sale of Napocor’s generating assets to be successful.

PSALM is on the right track as far as fasttracking the privatization of Napocor’s generating assets is concerned, said Froilan A. Tampinco, PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading.

“From 11 percent in 2006 to 50 percent in 2007, we expect to hit the 70 percent requirement for open access by end-2008 and complete the sale of the remaining plants in Luzon and Visayas by 2009,” Tampinco said.