Bidders swarm DOE auction for geothermal energy deals

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) has received at least 24 bids for 10 contracts under its geothermal energy contracting round, assistant secretary Mario Marasigan said.

“We received strong interest because of the renewable energy law. Now we are seeing the fruits of Republic Act 9513, wherein the incentives are really attractive,” he said.

Marasigan, who heads the Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said they are now in the process of reviewing all the bids.

“We are still undergoing evaluation of the bids. We may have an update on those who qualified by next week,” he said.

He said the bids were submitted by 13 companies who beat the deadline for submission of proposals for the geothermal areas last Nov. 23.

Included in the list of potential bidders are: Constellation Energy Philippines, Pan Pacific Power Corp., Aragorn Power Energy Corp. and Baca Valley Energy Inc.

Constellation Energy is looking at the Montelago area in Oriental Mindoro.

Pan Pacific is eyeing Daklan in Benguey and Natid in Bataan. Aragorn Power is setting its sight on Labo in Camarines Norte and Baca Valley for Mainit in Surigao del Norte and Maibarra, which covers Batangas and Laguna.

Filtech Energy managing director Zosimo Sarmiento said they decided to join the bidding “to take advantage of the new technologies and other incentives under the Renewable Energy Act which now make those areas subject of interest to many of our local and foreign partners.”

Icelandic firm Envent Holdings Philippines also submitted an offer, along with Energy Development Corp. (EDC), PNOC-Renewables Corp. Clean Rock Renewable Energy Resources Corp., Primary Energy Corp., SKI Construction Group Inc. and Magma Energy Corp. The DOE will offer geothermal areas in Cagua/Baua in Cagayan (69,748 hectares), Daklan in Benguet (23,639 has), Acupan-Itogon in Benguet (18,407.64 has), Natib in Bataan (11.928.72 has) and Montelago in Oriental Mindoro (4,032.97 has).

Other areas are Labo in Camarines Norte (9,324.30), Isarog in Camarines Sur (16,279.1), Sta. Lourdes-Tagburos in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan (1,599.80 has), Mainit in Surigao del Norte (37,690.93) and Maibarara which (1,599.80 has).

Under the bid documents, the DOE will evaluate the proposals based on technical (30 percent), financial (30 percent) and work program (40 percent) data submitted.