PSALM to auction 2 more geothermal plants

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) will  auction   two more geothermal power plants in the first quarter of 2008, a ranking PSALM official said  over the weekend.

PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading Froilan Tampinco said Tiwi-Makban and Tongonan geothermal facilities are among the first assets that would be disposed off by PSALM early next year.

Tampinco said the Tongonan geothermal plant will be sold together with Bohol oil-fired power plant.

He said Angat hydro power facility and Sucat oil-fired power plant will be in the list of the last generating assets that will be sold by PSALM. “We will be disposing off Angat and Sucat in 2009,” Tampinco said.

In the last quarter of this year, PSALM  will bid out Ambuklao/Binga (Nov. 28), Palinpinon geothermal with Panay diesel-fired plant (Dec. 5), and Manila Thermal Power Plant (Dec. 19).

According to Tampinco, 10 groups have expressed interest to bid for Palinpinon.

Tampinco declined to identify the prospective bidders for Palinpinon. But sources  said interested parties include PNOC-Energy Development Corp., Suez Tractebel and Korea Electric and Power Corp.

For Ambuklao-Binga, he said there are 11  that have expressed interest to bid. Of this number, three are foreign power firms.

To date, at least two real estate firms have joined the bandwagon of prospective buyers for Manila Thermal.

Tampinco said most of these power plants that would be sold already have transition supply contracts (TSCs) attached to its sales agreement.

The PSALM official said they are set to affix at least 40- to 50-percent supply contract to each power plant.

TSC is one factor being considered by buyers of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) generating assets as this will give them assurance that they have a ready market once they buy the power facilities.

PSALM, expects to sell 50 percent of Napocor’s generating plants in Luzon and Visayas by end-2007. This level will increase to 70 percent by the end of next year.

By 2009 or earlier, PSALM hopes to fully dispose off all the generating assets of the state-owned power generation company.