PSALM to rebid Leyte power plant contract

MANILA, Philippines - The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the government agency tasked to privatize state-owned power assets, will rebid the selection and appointment of the Unified Leyte independent power producer administrators (IPPAs) for bulk energy, its top official said.

PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said that the rebidding would be in September 2015.

But while PSALM said it would rebid the selection of IPPAs for Unified Leyte’s bulk energy, it already approved the award of IPPAs for the strips of energy but the issuance of certificate of effectivity will be moved by one year because of Super Typhoon Yolanda which affected the Unified Leyte plant.

This after the winning bidder, Unified Leyte Geothermal Energy Inc. (ULGEI) withdrew from the project.

“The board (of PSALM) approved the withdrawal of ULGEI as winning bidder for bulk energy,” Ledesma said.

ULGEI tendered a bid of P215 million for the Unified Leyte IPPA for bulk energy and met the reserve price set by the PSALM board but consequently withdrew from the project.

According to PSALM, an IPPA for the bulk energy will have the right to the capacity in excess of the 240-megawatt sum of strips.

The obligation to trade ULGPP’s total output (bulk and sum of strips, as well as the necessary registration applications required by the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market shall lie solely with the IPPA for the bulk energy, PSALM said.

Unified Leyte is composed of the 125-MW Upper Mahiao, 232.5-MW Malitbog, and 180-MW Mahanagdong power plants, and the 51-MW optimization plants. It is located in Tongonan, Leyte.