Aboitiz Power eyes power barges to be sold by PSALM

MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC), the power generation arm of the Aboitiz Group, has expressed interest to bid for the power barges to be auctioned off by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) this month.

APC president and CEO Erramon Aboitiz said the company is seeking to expand its exposure to all types of assets. “We think that its an asset that has its use. What we are trying to do is to accumulate a portfolio of assets that can handle baseload, intermediate and peaking,” he said.

Aboitiz said most of their assets are now in Mindanao. “Those power barges will have a role in Mindanao. We do think Mindanao will be able to use that capacity,” he said.

PSALM is scheduled to bid out the 100-megawatt Power Barge (PB) 117 located in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte.

Another scheduled for sale is the 100-MW PB 118 located in Maco, Compostela Valley.

Meanwhile, Aboitiz said they may drop their bid for the Limay diesel-fired power plant in Bataan.

“We’ve looked at it but we’re still not very convinced that long term, it will be a viable plant. We have so many other things that we’re looking at so we’re prioritizing at this point,” he said.

PSALM president Jose Ibazeta earlier said they are hoping to complete the privatization of Limay before the end of this month.

Ibazeta said after Limay, the state agency would be concentrating on the sale of other power barges.

Aside from the Aboitiz Group, San Miguel Energy Corp. also expressed interest to bid for the Limay facility but could also likely drop its bid, leaving no more bidders for the power plant.

During the pre-bid conference for Limay, said it had extended its operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement with Alstom Philippines Inc. to ensure the maintenance of the plant until its eventual turnover to the winning bidder.

The winning bidder will have the option to pre-terminate the O&M contract without incurring penalties so long as it can assure PSALM of the closure of the Limay plant sale.

In 1992, the government, through the National Power Corp., entered into an O&M agreement with ABB Power Generation Ltd. for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the Limay plant.

In 2000, Alstom became the counter-party of National Power to the O&M agreement, which expired in April 2008 for Block A and in October 2008 for Block B.