Business World Online
Posted on June 20, 2012 09:10:16 PM
THE PROCESS for a new auction for four state-owned power barges has begun with the publication yesterday of an invitation for interested parties to bid.
TWO of the three state-owned barges in Iloilo City are shown in this undated file photo. -- BW File Photo
Groups planning to participate in the Aug. 15 auction must send letters of interest to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and pay a non-refundable fee of $3,000 by July 4. A pre-bid conference is scheduled the following day.
Bidding for the barges failed last month after only one bidder, ACTA Power, submitted a proposal. ACTA Power is a joint venture between AC Energy Holdings Corp. of Ayala Corp. and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.
PSALM rules state there must be at least two bidders participating in an auction.
Power barges 101, 102, 103 and 104 each have a capacity of 32-megawatts (MW) and are diesel-fired. The first three barges are currently moored in Iloilo while power barge 104 is in Davao.
PSALM said yesterday it remains open to proposed changes to terms of sale, which currently include the controversial condition that barges should be ready for transfer to Mindanao in order to augment the island’s power supply.
Mindanao has been reeling from a power shortage, which yesterday hit 185 megawatts (system capacity of 1,086 MW against estimate peak demand of 1,271 MW), according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines -- though still far short of the deficiency that approached 600 MW at the height of the drought in 2010. The Agus-Pulangi hydropower facilities provide more than half of Mindanao’s electricity supply.
"The bidders’ concerns will be communicated by the bidders during the bid process. Part of the bid process is submission of bidders’ comments on the transaction documents. We’ll evaluate bidders’ comments accordingly and we shall decide after if we need to amend the terms of sale, all of which are subject to PSALM board approval," PSALM President Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. said in a text message yesterday.
Should it succeed, the sale will be the first for state-owned power assets under the current administration. If it fails, PSALM has the option to enter into a negotiated sale.
Companies like San Miguel Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp. and First Gen Corp. previously expressed interest in the barges.
Interested parties had been apprehensive electricity from the power barges, which run on expensive diesel fuel, will not be accepted by Mindanao-based consumers who are used to cheaper power generated by hydro plants.
They also said they could not assure prompt transfer of the barges to Mindanao because the winning firm will still need to secure environmental and other government permits.
The Energy department had asked PSALM to review the terms of sale to make them "more attractive to bidders." -- ENJD source
Bidding for the barges failed last month after only one bidder, ACTA Power, submitted a proposal. ACTA Power is a joint venture between AC Energy Holdings Corp. of Ayala Corp. and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.
PSALM rules state there must be at least two bidders participating in an auction.
Power barges 101, 102, 103 and 104 each have a capacity of 32-megawatts (MW) and are diesel-fired. The first three barges are currently moored in Iloilo while power barge 104 is in Davao.
PSALM said yesterday it remains open to proposed changes to terms of sale, which currently include the controversial condition that barges should be ready for transfer to Mindanao in order to augment the island’s power supply.
Mindanao has been reeling from a power shortage, which yesterday hit 185 megawatts (system capacity of 1,086 MW against estimate peak demand of 1,271 MW), according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines -- though still far short of the deficiency that approached 600 MW at the height of the drought in 2010. The Agus-Pulangi hydropower facilities provide more than half of Mindanao’s electricity supply.
"The bidders’ concerns will be communicated by the bidders during the bid process. Part of the bid process is submission of bidders’ comments on the transaction documents. We’ll evaluate bidders’ comments accordingly and we shall decide after if we need to amend the terms of sale, all of which are subject to PSALM board approval," PSALM President Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. said in a text message yesterday.
Should it succeed, the sale will be the first for state-owned power assets under the current administration. If it fails, PSALM has the option to enter into a negotiated sale.
Companies like San Miguel Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp. and First Gen Corp. previously expressed interest in the barges.
Interested parties had been apprehensive electricity from the power barges, which run on expensive diesel fuel, will not be accepted by Mindanao-based consumers who are used to cheaper power generated by hydro plants.
They also said they could not assure prompt transfer of the barges to Mindanao because the winning firm will still need to secure environmental and other government permits.
The Energy department had asked PSALM to review the terms of sale to make them "more attractive to bidders." -- ENJD source
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