The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has approved the final transaction documents for the sale of the 289-megawatt (MW) Tiwi and 458.53-MW Makban geothermal power plants on July 30.
“We are all set for a July 30 bid date with four pre-qualified bidders,” PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading Froilan Tampinco said.
Tampinco confirmed there are four pre-qualified bidders for the Tiwi-Makban assets but declined to identify the parties.
However, industry sources said the four potential bidders are Energy Development Corp. of the Lopezes, Aboitiz Power Renewable, Korea Electric Power Co. and Suez Energy.
Though sources said Suez Energy is likely to back out from the bidding, Tampinco said the European power firm is still part of the list of bidders.
“Suez is one of the prequalified bidders,” the PSALM official stressed.
There are apprehensions that the bidding for the Tiwi-Makban geothermal power facilities may be pushed back to a latter date anew with some unresolved issues on geothermal supply contracts.
From the earlier planned bidding date of June 27, the auction schedule of the auction was moved to July 30 this year. The bidding for Tiwi-Makban was previously scheduled on June 4.