Meralco CSP draws increased interest

Published July 30, 2019, 10:00 PM By Myrna M. Velasco

https://business.mb.com.ph/2019/07/30/meralco-csp-draws-increased-interest/

The scheduled competitive selection process (CSP) of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) for a supply portfolio of 2,900 megawatts had been swamped with “prospective offers” at the letter of interest (LOI) submission phase that culminated on Monday (July 29).

For the 1,200MW tender for brownfield capacity that shall be delivered starting December 2019, there are at least 11 prospective bidders that had been in the utility firm’s roll at this time; and seven (7) interested bidders in the targeted power supply agreements (PSAs) for the 500MW mid-merit and peaking capacity procurements set for delivery also by December 2019.

For the 1,200MW greenfield capacity that must be set on commercial stream by year 2024, Meralco Vice President Lawrence S. Fernandez indicated that there are at least four prospective bidders as of Monday.

The bidding dates for the three CSP undertakings will be on September 9 for the 1,200MW brownfield capacity for a PSA duration of 10 years; then September 10 for the 1,200MW greenfield for a 20-year power supply contract; and then September 11 for the five-year contract on the mid-merit/peaking capacity supply packages.

For the greenfield power development, it has been indicated that the likely bidders would be First Gen Corporation of the Lopez group; San Miguel Energy group; Aboitiz Power and Meralco PowerGen.

At this point, it is only Meralco PowerGen that had given confirmation that it is joining the Meralco CSP exercise for the solicited greenfield capacity to satiate future supply requirements for its captive customers.

“Yes, we will participate in Meralco’s CSP for Atimonan… we just keep mentioning this is shovel ready, so we’ll have a competitive bid for the CSP conducted by Meralco,” MGen President Rogelio L. Singson said. The Atimonan project is of 1,200MW capacity to be equipped with ultra super critical (USC) boiler technology.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella affirmed that the energy department will be sitting in the third party bids and awards committee (TPBAC) as observer in the CSP bidding of Meralco.

The oversight involvement of the Department of Energy (DOE) in the auction process will be up to the time that the PSAs had already been firmed up with the winning power suppliers or generation companies (GenCos) and up to the time that there is already joint filing of the PSA with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“Our policy is for us to oversee until the filing at the ERC. Then from there, it will be ERC’s turn already, so we don’t need to touch that part,” he explained.

On DOE’s part, he noted that they are making sure that the basic requirements under their issued Circular on CSP are complied with: Such as postings then the issuance and publication of bid bulletins; and ensuring that the PSAs and supply procurements are aligned with the Distribution Development Plan and the submitted individual Power Supply Procurement Plan (PSPP) of the distribution utilities (DUs) carrying out the CSPs.

“The terms of reference for the CSP will be up to the DU… what’s just important to us is that the process is fair and transparent and for us to make sure that there would be a lot of participants in these CSP biddings,” Fuentebella stressed.